Paul Mozur and Jane Perlez via the NYT
* * *
* *
One Chinese technology company receives crucial technical
guidance from a former People’s Liberation Army rear admiral.
Another company developed the electronics on China’s first
atomic bomb.
A third sells technology to China’s air-to-air missile
research academy.
Their ties to the Chinese military run deep, and they all
have something else in common: Each Chinese company counts one of America’s
tech giants - IBM, Cisco Systems or Microsoft - as a partner.
(*SIGH*)
* BUT AMERICA'S OLIGARCHS MAKE TONS OF MONEY BETRAYING
AMERICA... SO... QUICK... LET'S CHANGE THE SUBJECT TO THOSE EVIL RUSSIANS!
(*SNORT*)
(*SMIRK*)
Such links, which are generally not well publicized, are
now at the center of a debate among some in the American defense community,
including former United States military officials, analysts and others.
While the cross-border partnerships, under which American
tech companies share, license or jointly develop advanced technologies with
Chinese counterparts, are a growth area for business, security experts are
increasingly questioning whether the deals harm United States national
security.
* FOLKS... THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE OLD ENOUGH... REMEMBER
THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION?
(*SIGH*)
* THE CLINTON/GORE ADMINISTRATION OPENED THE FLOODGATES.
DELIBERATELY. AND QUITE PROFITABLY - FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR FRIENDS.
While the capabilities shared in the partnerships are
commercial in nature, such technologies have also become more critical to
defense.
* THEREFORE KINDA MAKING THE "COMMERCIAL IN
NATURE" BIT MEANINGLESS - RIGHT?
(*SPITTING ON THE GROUND*)
That is spurring concerns that widespread cooperation
with Chinese companies could quickly increase China’s fundamental technological
capabilities in a way that could easily help military research and operations.
* IT... HAS... BEEN...!!!
* SINCE 1993...!!!
A report made public this week from a security firm with
longstanding ties to the Department of Defense, the Defense Group Inc., said
IBM’s partnerships in China, which are part of a global initiative that the
company calls Open Power, are already damaging American national security.
* AS IF IT'S A NEW THING? PLEASE!
“IBM is endangering the national and economic security of
the United States, risking the cyber-security of their customers globally, and
undermining decades of U.S. nonproliferation policies regarding
high-performance computing,” the report said.
* DUH!
Edward Barbini, an IBM spokesman, rejected the report’s
conclusions, saying Defense Group Inc. “wholly mischaracterizes IBM’s
initiatives in China.”
* AND... Er... WHAT ELSE WOULD ONE EXPECT HIM TO SAY...?
(*SNORT*)
But other security experts defended the study by the
firm, which was founded in 1987 by a former Defense Department official, James
P. Wade, who was one of the authors of the military doctrine known as “shock
and awe.” Defense Group Inc. is known to be tough on China but is used by the
government to produce classified military analysis and intelligence, and works
with groups including the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission,
which examines the national security implications of trade between the United
States and China.
The Defense Department did not respond to requests for
comment on the report.
* NO... I'M SURE THEY DIDN'T...
(*AGAIN SPITTING ON THE FLOOR*)
“We need to pay more attention to the judgments on
whether advanced technology should be sold,” said Adm. Dennis C. Blair, who was
the United States director of national intelligence from 2009 to 2010 and who
headed the Pacific Command. “If you don’t pay attention, you can have damage to
your national security.”
* FOLKS. IT'S DELIBERATE. THESE PEOPLE JUST DON'T CARE.
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY FOR THEM.
Admiral Blair said the United States government operates
on the principle that companies should be able to sell technology that is
generally available on the world market but that they should be prohibited from
selling advanced technology that can be put to military use. Government
agencies in charge of foreign acquisition of technology need to be
strengthened, he said.
The Department of Defense did not immediately return a
request for comment.
(*RUEFUL CHUCKLE*)
(*SMIRK*)
There is nothing to suggest that the partnerships have
broken American laws. With IBM’s program, many elements have been vetted and
approved by the United States government, which is empowered through a review
process to decide whether American tech companies are giving away too much
advantage to military rivals.
* FOLKS... REALLY THINK ABOUT THAT LAST PARAGRAPH - AS
OPPOSED TO ALL THE PRECEDING PARAGRAPHS.
(*SMIRK*)
Still, the reviews have resulted in two decisions this
year that commercial technology could threaten national security.
* YA THINK...?!?!
In February, the Department of Commerce said that four
super-computer sites in China receiving chips from Intel through its Chinese
partner, Inspur, “have been involved in activities contrary to the national
security and foreign policy interests of the United States.”
Intel has said it stopped selling the chips in China and
that it was in compliance with United States law.
* Er... A BIT LATE, ISN'T IT; AFTER THE CHIPS WERE
ALREADY SOLD?
(*SNORT*)
In May, the United States Navy also said that it needed
new server computers for one of its systems after the server provider, IBM,
sold the computing unit to the Chinese company Lenovo. IBM said the sale had
passed the United States government’s review.
* I'M SURE IT DID... DID "PASS THE U.S. GOVERNMENT
REVIEW" THAT IS.
(*SMIRK*)
* FOLKS... HOW MANY TIMES DO I NEED TO REPEAT IT: THE
MASK IS TOTALLY OFF!
The issue is tricky because cooperation between American
companies and Chinese ones allied with the military is a natural outgrowth of
globalization. Any policies that limit American companies’ work on commercial
technologies with Chinese partners could damage their competitiveness, analysts
said.
(*ROLLING MY EYES WHILE LAUGHING OUT LOUD*)
“It’s so difficult to keep tech away from China
commercially given how large China’s market is,” said Scott Kennedy, an analyst
at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
* NOT TO MENTION THE SPYING; DON'T FORGET THE SPYING!
(*SNORTING WHILE SMIRKING*)
IBM and other American tech companies said they are not
harming national security through the partnerships, they follow United States
laws carefully and they treat the endeavors the same as for any commercial
venture in a foreign country.
Mr. Barbini, the IBM spokesman, said the Open Power
program was not specific to China, and the technology provided through it “is
commercially available, general purpose, and does not require a U.S. export
license.”
He added that “all IBM sales and technology licensing
agreements comply with U.S. export regulations and require that partners in any
country do so as well.”
Microsoft has said it is handling its partnership with a
Chinese government-owned defense company as it would other system integrators
globally.
* AND THAT'S THE PROBLEM...!!!
(*HEAD EXPLODING*)
A Cisco spokesman said technology developed in a new
Chinese partnership would be done with approval from the American and Chinese
governments.
* "...AND CHINESE GOVERNMENT."
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
While American tech companies have long worked with the
Chinese government, Beijing has over the last two years pushed companies for
tighter relationships, like joint ventures and agreements to transfer
technology, with Chinese companies. Chinese officials have used the carrot of
market access to spur more American corporate collaboration.
* FOLKS. THEY'VE BRIBED AND THREATENED. AND AS ALREADY
MENTIONED, THEY'VE STOLEN. THE CHINESE COMMUNISTS MAY BE "BUSINESS
ASSOCIATES" TO OUR OLIGARCHS, BUT THEY'RE DEADLY ENEMIES TO EVERYTHING
"WE THE PEOPLE" HOLD DEAR.
That has led to a rising number of partnerships. IBM
began working with Chinese companies including CCore, Beijing Teamsun
Technology and Inspur. Each Chinese company works to develop advanced
technology for the government and sells to military clients, according to
information on their websites and other public sources.
Last month, during a visit by China’s president, Xi
Jinping, to the United States, Cisco also announced a joint venture with
Inspur, a server maker that counts China’s air-to-air missile research academy
as a client.
* WHAT'S IT GONNA TAKE TO MAKE YOU SHEEPLE WAKE UP?
Microsoft unveiled a partnership with the China
Electronics Technology Group Corporation, or C.E.T.C., a government-owned
defense company overseeing the former military-run research institutes that
developed the electronics for China’s first nuclear bomb.
(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)
Other American tech companies have signed similar deals.
Intel took a stake last year in a subsidiary of Tsinghua
Holdings, China’s emerging microchip national champion. Hewlett-Packard sold a
majority stake in its Chinese networking unit to a separate subsidiary of
Tsinghua this year, and Dell said it would spend $125 billion in China through
2020.
Inspur, C.E.T.C., Tsinghua and CCore did not respond to
requests for comment. Intel, H.P. and Dell declined to comment.
“The Chinese companies are required to do the best for
their government. American companies say they are only answerable to their
shareholders,” said James McGregor, chairman of the greater China region of the
consulting firm Apco Worldwide. “So who is looking out for the United States?”
* NO ONE.
The report on IBM last month from Defense Group Inc.,
which provides intelligence to the United States government and private clients
that pay for the research, said Big Blue had gone too far with its Chinese
collaborations. The report, using publicly available information, chronicled
the military ties of the Chinese beneficiaries of IBM’s program, through which
IBM licenses intellectual property for microchips, servers and software to
partners.
In one case, the report said, a former Chinese rear
admiral, Shen Changxiang, who is also a member of a Communist Party committee
on the Internet headed by Mr. Xi, oversees the integration of IBM’s technology
at one of the partners, Teamsun.
Another partner, CCore, provides specialized microchips
for weapons control, the report said.
Inspur, also a partner, sells products to the Chinese
military, including a rugged hand-held computer and messaging software, said
the report, which is titled “Open Power, Hidden Dangers: IBM Partnerships in
China.”
Defense Group Inc. declined to say if the report was made
at the request of a private client or a government group. The firm said that as
a matter of policy, it does not reveal its funding sources; it declined to say
why.
“The information in the report is a matter of public
record and the analysis is our own,” the firm said in a statement. “Regardless
of sources of our funding, it’s absolutely critical for our reputation to
always be unbiased in our reports.”
Admiral Blair said it was “useful to have a check” and
have the report spotlight IBM’s initiative. Defense Group Inc., with an
intelligence unit headed by James Mulvenon, a former researcher at the RAND
Corporation, has a staff that includes linguists and digital experts with
American government security clearances, he said.
While Defense Group Inc.’s report focuses on IBM,
analysts said a blurring of the lines among many companies that supply military
and commercial technology makes it difficult to know what cooperation might
result in technology ultimately being used by China’s military.
“We’ve seen major efforts in China to push the boundaries
of civil-military integration, so this does make it increasingly difficult to
work out what’s military and what’s commercial,” said Tai Ming Cheung, a
professor at the University of California, San Diego, who specializes in
Chinese defense issues.
* BUT, HEY... LET'S TALK ABOUT THAT NASTY PUTIN GUY...
(*SMIRKING WHILE SHAKING MY HEAD*)
