By Zhong Sheng, People’s Daily
Some secret military documents of the United States leaked on social networking sites recently showed how the United States has been eavesdropping on the secretary-general of the United Nations as well as the Republic of Korea, Israel, Ukraine and other countries.
These leaks once again prove that the United States is the world’s largest “empire of hackers” that’s been spying on people around the world in every way possible. The so-called Clean Network and what the United States calls “technology that reflects democratic values and interests” are extremely hypocritical.
The leaked documents, numbering more than 100 pages, involve nearly every corner of the U.S. intelligence apparatus.
An American media outlet called them “a rare window on the inner workings of American espionage.” They revealedhow the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recruited agents or eavesdropped on the closed-door conversations of world leaders.
These documents explain that the United States is still engaged in massive cyber attacks and theft of secrets around the world, which seriously harms other countries’ sovereignty and the privacy of global internet users, severely contravenes international law and basic norms governing international relations.
U.S. spying scandals tell the world that the United States is the origin of cyber warfare, the biggest spreader of advanced cyber weapons and the biggest global cyber thief.
The Black Chamber following World War I, the Project SHAMROCK after World War II and the Echelon during the Cold War period were all ironclad proofs of U.S. spying activities across the world.
The United States has been acting more arbitrarily with regard to global surveillance over the recent years.
According to the 2013 disclosure by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, Washington had been spying on the cell phone communications of as many as 35 world leaders and collecting almost 5 billion cell phone records around the world each day.
The Danish Broadcasting Corporation revealed in 2021 that Denmark’s secret service helped the United States spy on leaders of Germany, France, Norway and other U.S. allies in Europe.
The WikiLeaks, PRISM, Dirtbox, Irritant Horn, Bvp47 and Swiss encryption machines manipulated by the CIA all exposed that the United States has long been engaged in indiscriminate eavesdropping on the world.
“Do not expect a global surveillance superpower to act with honor or respect. There is only one rule: there are no rules,” said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
U.S. spying scandals tell the world that the United States only values its own hegemony and private interests, rather than its allies.
Former CIA official Philip Giraldi once said that “They should not have been surprised and all that. The United States spies on all its allies. When I was in the CIA working in Europe, we spied on the Germans. We spied on the Italians. We spied on the Spaniards. We spied on the British. We spied on everybody.”
The U.S. side claimed that the leak of these classified documents this time did not undermine trust and confidence with its partners, but the international community is clear that the United States was trying to conceal its lack of confidence, and the allies of the United States know that the country is not reliable at all.
New York City-based multinational financial and business news website Business Insider noted that it’s not a secret that U.S. intelligence organizations spy on both U.S. allies and enemies.
Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun said the leak this time discredited the White House and was a huge blow to the relations between the United States and its allies.
U.S. spying scandals tell the world that the United States is a total hypocrite when it comes to safeguarding cybersecurity.
China Cybersecurity Industry Alliance recently issued a report revealing the typical cyber attacks launched by the United States over the recent years and their negative impacts.
According to the report, the ransomware WannaCry that affected most countries and caused the most severe losses across the world in 2017 was the result of leaked cyber weapons from the U.S. National Security Agency. Ironically, in 2021, the United States put on an act by launching a so-called International Counter-Ransomware Initiative with dozens of countries.
The United States asked nine international internet giants, including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google and Apple to cooperate with the U.S. government to secretly monitor information. It has been citing digital security as an excuse to suppress Chinese companies without providing any evidence, and even coerced its allies who were also victims of U.S. espionage to join the gang.
Besides, the United States also launched projects aiming to intrude, divide and suppress foreign cybersecurity vendors and force them to dance to the tune of the United States.
Facts have proved that the United States, which claims to work for a “Clean Network,” is not clean at all. It says it aims to develop “technology that reflects democratic values and interests,” but is only breaching the bottom line of morality.
What the United States really wants are a network and technologies that enable it to steal secrets, attack other countries and maintain its hegemony.
Safeguarding cybersecurity is a shared responsibility of the international community. The United States claims itself to be a defender of freedom and democracy, yet it has been the champion of hacking by using cutting-edge technology. The United States says it’s important to protect information security, yet it has placed information security traps worldwide. The country should stop its hegemonic, domineering and bullying practices, and give a responsible account to the international community.
(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy and international affairs.)
