Titan Rain - Oh Really?

Strange claims are surfacing that elements of the Chinese "Peoples Liberation Army" (an Oxymoron if ever there was one given the PLA's performance around Tiananmen Square in 1989) have targeted British Government computers.

There has been wide speculation for years that certain ultra-nationalist elements of the PLA have wanted to engage in "asymmetric warfare" against the US. Indeed, the military approach of the PLA has always contained a guerilla approach to combat against a larger enemy. This was deployed effectively during both the Chinese Civil War, against the Japanese (although a recent biog of Mao has cast doubt that the Red Army did much fighting against the Japanese during the occupation of China from 1937-1945) and would have been deployed as part of a "People's War" strategy against both the US during the Korean War and the Soviets in 1969 had there been an invasion.

I agree with those who comment that the claims appearing in the media appear to have little credibility. Had they been credible then at the very least I would have expected to see the Chinese Ambassador getting a pretty big and public flea in his ear from the British Government and the Chinese Military Attaches being sent on a plane back to Beijing.

I would also have expected the British Government to have imposed economic sanctions against the Communist regime as well.

None of these events has happened so I can only be truly sceptical of the claims.

That said, there are some serious headbangers amongst the Chinese military, some in high positions and we should be vigilant that they do not gain the upper hand when the Chinese Communist Party loses its absolute grip on power as certain elements of the Red Army tried to do with the collapse of Soviet Communism.

My analysis is that this is good old fashioned right-wing anti-communist propaganda which deflects from the core problem in China. That core problem is that the human rights record of China is not matching the promises made to the IOC in 2001 and that pressure and potentially sanctions should be applied to encourage Beijing to both ratify the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and release all political prisoners.