Furious China terms US a ‘ mincing rascal’

Beijing, May 21: Chinese state media labelled the United States a “mincing rascal” and “high- level hooligan” on Wednesday in response to Washington charging five Chinese military officers with hacking US companies to steal trade secrets.

The indictment on Monday was the first criminal hacking charge the US has filed against specific foreign officials, and follows a rise in public criticism and private confrontation between the world’s two biggest economies over cyber espionage.

As a first response, China suspended a Sino- US working group on cyber issues. In an editorial, the Global Times, an influential tabloid run by the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of China’s Communist Party, said this was the “right move, but we should take further actions.”

“We should encourage organisations and individuals whose rights have been infringed to stand up and sue Washington,” the newspaper said. “Regarding the issue of network security, the US is such a mincing rascal that we must stop developing any illusions about it.”

The Chinese- language version of the Global Times called the United States a “high- level hooligan”.

Washington’s legal approach against China is “high- handed and hypocritical,” the People’s Daily said, citing media reports that the US National Security Agency ( NSA) spied on Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

“Suspending the operations of a bilateral group on cyber affairs is a reasonable start, but more counter- measures should be prepared in case Washington obstinately sticks to the wrong track,” state news agency Xinhua said in a commentary on Tuesday. “Otherwise, it should take full responsibility for the consequences of the farce that features itself as a robber playing cop.”

American technology companies appear most likely to feel any backlash that could come from China.

US equipment and software providers such as IBM Corp and Cisco Systems Inc have already seen their China sales drop after last year’s revelations by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden of US spying.

IBM’s China sales have fallen by a fifth or more for threestraight quarters, the firm reported in April.

Doing business in China could now get even tougher, although any retaliation may not be immediate, industry analysts and executives said. — Reuters