Australian Diplomats under Cyber Attack

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Espionage accusation between Australia and China continues.  This time it involves spam emails loaded with spyware.  The targets are said to be Australian foreign affairs officials whose work involve China.

According to today’s Sydney Morning Herald:

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed yesterday staff had been briefed about a suspicious email sent to several staff last month. The source of the email is under investigation by the department’s communications experts. ASIO and the AFP would not comment yesterday on whether they were also investigating the email.

A report in the Canberra Times said the email was suspected to have originated from China and was headed ”Australia-China Free Trade Agreement Negotiations Update”. It reportedly targeted officials who work on China-related matters.

A spokeswoman for the department would not say whether the email was believed to have come from China.

Neil of Floating Life has written about this DFAT warning in a blog post today, as he is commenting about last night’s ABC Four Corners report on cyber crime.

This is a LINK to a Chinese language report about this incident at Radio Free Asia.

Stern Hu Formally Charged

Stern Hu and his three other Rio Tinto colleagues have been formally arrested on charges of  infringing trade secrets and bribery.  This is a major breakthrough in a scandal that has severely damaged goodwill between Australia and China.  The timing of the formal arrest and the details released indicate that the Chinese authorities have retracted accusations involving state secrets.  The Rio Tinto employees are now charged in accordance with normal criminal procedures. 

The Charges

According to a Xinhua press release, the Procuratorate issued a statement late yesterday to confirm the formal arrest.  Yesterday was the deadline under PRC criminal procedure law for the Procuratorate to approve and explain the arrests.  This deadline would not have applied if the accused were investigated for stealing state secrets.

The charges are in relation to Article 219 of the PRC’s criminal law code concerning commercial secrets.  There are also allegations of commercial bribery, even though no specific legislation has been cited.  The Chinese version of the Xinhua release further suggests that the Procuratorate is in the process of charging other suspects from China’s steel and iron industry.  [I am quoting from the Chinese version of the report because some essential information is missing in the English version.]

What does it mean for Stern Hu

Stern Hu will now be entitled to legal representation.  His lawyer can once again lodge a bail application.

The prosecutor will be given two months’ time to prepare the case and to provide details of the charges to Hu’s lawyer.  The prosecutor, based on the complexity of the case, can apply for an extension of up to seven months.  If the prosecutor is unable to build a case by then, Hu can conceivably be released without charges.  However, between now and four months prior to the trial, the prosecutor can, at his discretion, make changes to the charges.

If found guilty, Hu will face a maximum jail sentence of 7 years.  He will also be asked to pay a fine.

What should Rio and the Australian Government do

Rio Tinto should see to it that its employees are receiving legal advice as soon as possible.  It is also important for the Australian Government to continue to put pressure on its Chinese counterpart to ensure the case continues to be handle expediently and transparently.  This can prevent Chinese authorities from trumping up additional charges against the accused and against Rio Tinto.

Just a word of warning for Rio Tinto: the PRC’s criminal code on commercial secrets contains two parts: Article 219 and Article 220.  The former deals with charges against individuals implicated in a crime.  The latter allows Chinese law enforcement agencies to lay charges against a company and to arrest its senior executives.  So it would be advisable for Rio Tinto to make sure that it does not place any more of its senior executives under Chinese jurisdiction.

Chinese Government Sanctioned Cyber-terrorism?

One of our commenters, “Anon”, has posted this interesting story about how Chinese nationalists mistakenly attacked an Algerian BBS during a campaign to boycott French products last year:

RE: The Algerian BBS: It was nothing really, not a hack or any major concerted trolling. During the time when France was Public Enemy #1 (it’s really becoming hilarious how, other than the top 1-3 eternal enemies spots, the other most-hated countries are pretty much a revolving door of offenders) I saw a post somewhere (I don’t know where, Global Times, Tianya?) where somebody posted a link to a “French” board and said “hey, let’s go tell these guys what we think.” I followed the link and found some angry and/or propagandizing posts from Chinese there (either in English or obvious machine translations to French, I don’t know), but it was pretty obvious that the forum was Algerian, even though I don’t speak French. I mean, I think the Algerian flag was prominently displayed! So it was pretty obvious that they just found a French language forum at random. Not any big thing.

It is a pretty hilarious story.  I have plenty of sympathy for the Algerians, who would not have a clue what was going on.

However it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine whether this kind of trolling activity is in fact sanctioned by the Chinese Government. The same goes for hacking. Xinhua has just published a couple of news release to claim that the PRC government is worrying about the proliferation (and increasing popularity) of online hackers’ schools in China. Hackers are said to be responsible for 7.6 billion RMB economic loss in China last year. An incident of a hacker convicted for Internet crime has been highlighted in these Xinhua reports to demonstrate the PRC Government’s determination to curb the crime. The convicted hacker received one and a half years’ jail sentence for stealing over 7 million RMB from banks. If you ask me, I’ll say that the sentence is rather lenient for a country which is well known for imposing harsh penalty on those who commit even petty crime.

Xinhua’s issuing of the statements is probably an attempt to deflect international condemnation of the Chinese Government’s alleged involvement in a Civilian Cyber War Force called the “Red Hackers Alliance” (RHA). Here is a LINK to an article at the Strategy Page about this organisation.  Earlier, researchers in Toronto also published damning evidence of Chinese government-operated cyber-espionage networks in action.

Meanwhile another more concrete piece of evidence has just emerged to link China’s Internet filtering initiative, or the Great Fire Wall of China, directly to a type of cyber-crime known as DNS (Domain Name System) hijacking.  DNS hijacking involves converting legitimate domain names of websites into IP addresses of malicious websites using a rogue DNS server.  So when a user of an infected computer visits a  certain legitimate domain name, he is sent to a bogus website instead.  An expatriate in Shanghai published a blog post a couple of weeks ago about how he accidentally discovered this criminal practice of the GFW.  Since then, another blogger has also come forward to share his findings.

As I have advocated earlier, the most effective way for China to prove its innocence and to disassociate itself from any involvement in cyber-terrorism is to cooperate with the Australian Federal Police to apprehend (and possibly extradite) those who are involved in the hacking incident against MIFF.  This will send a really strong message to hackers in China about their Government’s determination to crack down on illegal Internet activities.  To no one’s surprise, this is not likely going to happen.  I heard from reliable sources that the AFP is not able to secure cooperation from their Chinese counterparts.  Under this country’s civil liberty legislation, the AFP only has limited authority to deal with such matter.  So the case has been transferred to our military intelligent agencies instead.  In short, the game is on.

Chinese Cyber-terrorism Gives Kadeer More Publicity (Update)

Click HERE for the original post.

ABC News just confirms that a Chinese national has contacted the National Broadcaster, claiming responsibility for the hacking incident.  This is the relevant section from the news report:

The hacker has contacted the ABC saying he does not work for the Chinese Government and is just an ordinary, angry Chinese citizen who objects to the film.

The film’s director Jeff Daniels says he is concerned about the fact Victoria police will be putting on extra security for the screening.

“I personally find it appalling that the Chinese Government has put the film festival and film-goers in a position where they need a police escort and private security to see a film,” he said.

“I think Melbourne is getting a small taste of the position that the Chinese Government has put Rabiya Kadeer and her family and the Uighur population in for the past 60 years.”

The film festival organiser reiterates that the Kadeer film will be screened as schedule.

This author once again urges Chinese authorities and their representatives in Australia to cooperate with the Australian Police in tracking down the hacker(s) responsible for this act of cyber-terrorism.

Chinese Cyber-terrorism Gives Kadeer More Publicity

Check HERE for update

Rebiya Kadeer and the film 10 Conditions of Love and the Melbourne Film Festival continue to be the focus of international attention, thanks to a group of anarchic China-based hackers.

Hackers broke into the Melbourne International Film Festival’s official website and replaced festival information with the Chinese flag and anti-Kadeer slogans.  The site was subsequently subjected to spam attacks.  Meanwhile Festival Director Richard Moore’s email account was inundated with abusive messages since the day he refused to comply with Chinese Government’s insolent demand to withdraw the Kadeer film from the program.  The matter is now under police investigation.  Initial findings indicate that the attacks originated from China.

Computer hacking is classified in International Law under “Terrorism”.  To be precise, it is called “Cyber-terrorism”.

My understanding is that the Chinese Government is very keen to seek cooperation from international communities to fight terrorism.  I am therefore calling upon Chinese authorities, particularly Chinese government’s representatives in Australia, to fully cooperate with Victorian Police and Australian Federal Police in their efforts to track down those China-based hackers who have committed such acts of cyber-terrorism. 

I also suggest that the Australia Government should issue travel warnings to Australians who plan to travel to China.  The Chinese language media in the PRC has been using both the Stern Hu scandal and the Kadeer film as excuses to launch an anti-Australia campaign.  There is also evidence to suggest that the Chinese government is trying hard to conceal this anti-Australia sentiment by blocking similar reports from appearing in its English language newspapers.  Take the Global Times as an example.  Many reports about the MIFF have appeared in its Chinese edition in the last few days.  One of these online reports has attracted more than 500 anti-Australia comments.  These reports were instantly copied and disseminated at major Internet portals in China.  However, up till now not a single report about the MIFF had appeared in the English edition of the Global Times.

The Chinese Government has used similar tactics of appealing to public sentiment in its dealings with the French.  In this difficult economic climate, the Chinese Government will use all tricks available to extort concessions from trading partners, or to shift blame away from the Communist leadership.  Therefore I remind the Australian Foreign Affairs Ministry to advise caution.  There are good reasons to be concerned about the safety of Australians in China.

Global Times Advocates Detention of All Rio Tinto Staff in China

Global Times, an ultra-nationalistic CCP controlled tabloid attached to People’s Daily, claimed that public opinion demand to see all Rio Tinto staff in China placed under detention.

There is nothing new about Global Times’ pouring gasoline onto the flames of ignorant anti-foreigner rage.  So I’d like to advise our readers to bear that in mind when you proceed to read this blog post.  When I first read this Global Times report, I intended to disregard it, as I usually disregard everything published in that Chinese tabloid equivalent of the Nazi Party’s Voelkische Beobachter.  This time, however, my co-blogger Ned Kelly has convinced me to write a post about it, just so that our readers will be more informed about why and how public opinion is manipulated in China.  Articles like this one will never make their way to the English language newspapers published in China.  The Communist Party’s US-based public relations agent would have weeded them out.

Global Times conducted an online survey in response to Rio Tinto’s move to recall all its research staff from China.  The online survey contains only one leading question, which reads: “Do you agree that Rio Tinto staff and its senior management of exploration should be temporarily restrained from leaving this country?”

In a subsequent report published this morning, Global Times claims that 91.6% of respondents approved of stopping Rio Tinto staff from leaving China, 6.5% disapproved and 1.9% abstained.

Global Times also quoted netizens’ comments in the report to indicate that Rio Tinto’s announcement of recalling its staff has been interpreted as an admission of guilt.  Some netizens are advocating the detention of Rio Tinto staff as a revenge against the US for the conviction of Dongfan Greg Chung, a former Boeing engineer who has been found guilty of stealing space shuttle secrets for China.  Chung’s conviction has been interpreted in China as a case of miscarriage of justice.  Incidentally, I also noticed that the news about Rio Tinto has now been placed “strategically” next to the news about Chung’s conviction.

What is this telling us?  From what I can see, the Chinese authorities have not been able to find any evidence against the Rio Tinto staff now under detention.  Rio Tinto’s refusal to back down and the Australian Government’s stepping up of international pressure are creating further complications for the industry regulator China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).  If Gordon Chang’s prediction is correct (and he usually is), some members of China’s Politburo Standing Committee are already using the Rio Tinto scandal as a pretence to launch a full scale investigation into the iron and steel industry.  China’s top organ of political power has a track record of using charges of high-level corruption to sideline adversaries.  The way Global Times attempts to manipulate the incident for a domestic audience has all the typical signs of how struggles within the Chinese Communist Party are usually handled.  As Gordon Chang has put it: “Chinese leaders seem to be knifing each other at this moment, and they probably don’t care what foreigners think. This is not a particularly good time to be doing business with, or in, China.”

Australian Writers Condemn China’s Censorship Attempt

The Sydney affiliate of International PEN issued a statement to condemn China’s latest attempt to force the organiser of the Melbourne Film Festival to remove The Ten Conditions of Love from its 2009 program.  Sydney PEN also appealed for the imminent release of Chinese PEN member Liu Xiaobo and Uighur PEN centre member Iham Tohti.  Liu Xiaobo has been formally arrested in June after in detention for more than six months and is now awaiting trial.  Iham Tohti has disappeared and is believed to have been detained for blogging about the Urumqi riot.

Trailer of The Ten Conditions of Love

Sydney PEN’s statement reads:

Sydney PEN condemns censorship attempt; congratulates Melbourne Film Festival

Sydney PEN, the influential body of writers and readers devoted to freedom of expression, has congratulated the Melbourne International Film Festival for its firm stance against Chinese attempts to censor its 2009 festival program.

Melbourne International Film Festival director, Richard Moore, revealed this week how an official from the Chinese Consulate in Melbourne telephoned him, demanding he withdraw the documentary, The 10 Conditions of Love, from his festival this month. The film profiles the Uighur businesswoman and leader in exile, Rebiya Kadeer. The Chinese government describes Kadeer as a terrorist and blames her for instigating the deadly ethnic riots in Xinjiang this month.

Sydney PEN president, Virginia Lloyd, condemned the Chinese Consulate’s attempt to censor the festival. “We congratulate Mr Moore for holding firm against this objectionable pressure,” she said.

Dr Lloyd said China’s harsh stance on free speech in its own country was well documented, with 47 writers currently imprisoned there because of their writing and political views – more than any other country in the world. However, for Chinese diplomatic staff to demand censorship of free speech within Australia was a disturbing development, she said. Such attempts must be vigorously rejected.

Dr Lloyd said the attempt to censor the Melbourne screening of the documentary was of deep concern.

“In Australia we are extremely fortunate to enjoy a high degree of free expression. However, attempts are often made to curtail this, in overt and subtle ways. We must be vigilant against censorship in all its forms, and vocal in demanding that our freedom of expression be protected,” said Dr Lloyd.

“Working with our colleagues at International PEN, our members seek the release of many imprisoned Chinese writers. Currently these include the leading writer, dissident and literary critic, Liu Xiaobo, who after six months in detention without charge or trial was formally arrested in Beijing on June 23 and charged with ‘inciting subversion of state power’. Along with human rights organisations around the world, we are calling for Liu Xiaobo’s immediate release.”

PEN is also deeply concerned by the detention of Uighur writer, academic and member of the Uighur PEN Centre, Iham Tohti, who was reportedly arrested in Beijing on 6 July 2009. He had spoken out on the ethnic unrest which broke out in Urumqi on 5 July.

China Demands Australian Film-maker to Withdraw Uighur Documentary

The Chinese Government, out of sheer stupidity, is stepping up pressure on Australia to subjugate to its whim.  This time, the target is an Australian film on Rebiya Kadeer, to be screened at the upcoming Melbourne Film Festival.  This is a report from ABC Radio Australia:

Organisers of an Australian film festival say they have been pressured by the Chinese government to remove a documentary about an exiled dissident.

The film by Australian director Jeff Daniels, called The 10 Conditions of Love, tells the rags-to-riches story of millionaire businesswoman Rebiya Kadeer, a member of the Uighur ethnic group.

Ms Kadeer was one of China’s richest women but is now in exile in the United States.

Richard Moore, director of the Melbourne International Film Festival, says an official from the Chinese consulate rang him last Friday asking him to withdraw the documentary.

“Then (they) went on to list at great length . . . the number of so-called crimes that Rebiya Kardeer had committed against China and against humanity,” Mr Moore said.

“I have to tell you after about five minutes I fazed out and then again reminded her that there was no way we were going to withdraw the film from the festival and politely put down the phone.”

Please follow this LINK to a more detailed report from this morning’s ABC AM program.

Let me sum up how an Australian will respond to this kind of farcical situation:

1. Amused.
2. There’s no way Richard Moore will back down.  If he does, he’ll be called a wuss.
3. That’s good publicity for Kardeer.  She’ll have more stories to tell when she is here for the film festival.  Good on her.
4. Now you finally got me interested.  Where can I buy a ticket?

Incidentally, the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd today has  issued a stern warning to the Chinese Government about the way it handles Mr Stern Hu’s case.  Mr Rudd said and I quote:

Australia of course has significant economic interests with its relationship with China, but I also remind our Chinese friends that China too has significant economic interests at stake in its relationship with Australia and with its other commercial partners around the world,” Mr Rudd said. “A range of foreign governments and corporations will be watching this case with interest and will be watching it very closely, and they will be drawing their own conclusions as to how it is conducted.