China behind global cyber spy network
　

CHASING GHOSTS: Two reports released by academics this weekend outlined a far-reaching and aggressive cyber espionage operation targeting Tibet and many others

AP AND NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE, TORONTO
Monday, Mar 30, 2009, Page 1

A cyber spy network based mainly in China hacked into classified documents from government and private organizations in 103 countries, including the computers of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan exiles, Canadian researchers said on Saturday.

The work of the Information Warfare Monitor (IMW) initially focused on allegations of Chinese cyber espionage against the Tibetan 苞ommunity-in-exile, and eventually led to a much wider network of compromised machines, the Internet-based research group said.

"we uncovered real-time evidence of malware that had penetrated Tibetan computer systems, extracting sensitive documents from the private office of the Dalai Lama," investigator Greg Walton said.

The research group said that while its analysis points to China as the main source of the network, it has not conclusively been able to detect the identity or motivation of the hackers.

Calls to China's Foreign Ministry and Industry and Information Ministry rang unanswered yesterday. The Chinese consulate in Toronto did not immediately return calls for comment on Saturday.

Students For a Free Tibet activist Bhutila Karpoche said her organization旧 computers have been hacked into numerous times over the past four or five years and particularly in the past year. She said she often gets e-mails that contain viruses that crash the group旧 computers.

The IWM is composed of researchers from Ottawa-based think tank SecDev Group and the University of Toronto's Munk Centre for International Studies. The group's initial findings led to a 10-month investigation summarized in the report Tracking 'GostNet': Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network, released online yesterday.

The researchers detected a cyber espionage network involving more than 1,295 compromised computers from the ministries of foreign affairs of Iran, Bangladesh, Latvia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, Barbados and Bhutan. They also discovered hacked systems in the embassies of India, South Korea, Indonesia, Romania, Cyprus, Malta, Thailand, Taiwan, Portugal, Germany and Pakistan.

Once the hackers infiltrated the systems, they gained control using malware － software they install on the compromised computers － and sent and received data from them, the researchers said.

The researchers said they believed that in addition to spying on the Dalai Lama, the system, which they called GhostNet, was focused on the governments of South Asian and Southeast Asian countries.

Intelligence analysts say that many governments, including those of China, Russia and the US use sophisticated computer programs to covertly gather information.

The newly reported spying operation is by far the largest to come to light in terms of countries affected. The malware is remarkable both for its sweep － in computer jargon, it has not been merely "phishing" for random consumers' information, but "whaling" for particular important targets － and for its Big Brother-style capacities. It can, for example, turn on the camera and audio-recording functions of an infected computer, enabling monitors to see and hear what goes on in a room.

The electronic spy game has had at least some real-world impact, they said. For example, they said after an e-mail invitation was sent by the Dalai Lama's office to a foreign diplomat, the Chinese government made a call to the diplomat discouraging a visit. And a woman working for a group making Internet contacts between Tibetan exiles and Chinese citizens was stopped by Chinese intelligence officers on her way back to Tibet, shown transcripts of her online conversations and warned to stop her political activities.

Two researchers at Cambridge University in the UK who worked on the part of the investigation related to the Tibetans also released their own report yesterday.

In an online abstract for The Snooping Dragon: Social Malware Surveillance of the Tibetan Movement Shishir Nagaraja and Ross Anderson wrote that while malware attacks were not new, these attacks should be noted for their ability to collect "actionable intelligence for use by the police and security services of a repressive state, with potentially fatal consequences for those exposed."

They said prevention against such attacks would be difficult since traditional defense against social malware in government agencies involves expensive and intrusive measures that range from mandatory access controls to tedious operational security procedures.

The Tracking 'GhostNet' report is available at www.tracking-ghost.net.

The Snooping Dragon report is available at www.www.cl.cam.ac.uk/techreports/UCAM-CL-TR-746.pdf.

Dalai Lama's exclusion criticized
　

By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Mar 30, 2009, Page 2

Taiwan Friends of Tibet chairwoman Chow Mei-li (周美里) yesterday accused the World Buddhist Forum of politically interfering in religion by refusing to invite the Dalai Lama to the forum because China considers the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader to be a “separatist.”

“We are shocked by the fact that World Buddhist Forum refused to invite the Dalai Lama because the Dalai Lama supports Tibet independence [sic], and we condemn the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] for politically controlling, polluting and repressing religion,” Chow said during a conference in Taipei on the development of liberalism in China. “Since when was a personal political view a criterion for participating in a forum about Buddhism?”

Buddhist leaders in China took the initiative to organize the first World Buddhist Forum last year with the stated aim of creating a platform for Buddhists around the world to discuss the religion.

This year’s forum is being organized by Buddhist leaders in China and Taiwan. The forum opened in China on Friday and moves to Taipei today.

The forum’s spokesman, Chinese Buddhist Master Shih Mingsheng (釋明生), was quoted by the Hong Kong-based Singtao Daily on Friday as saying that the Dalai Lama had not been invited because “he did not give up [seeking] independence for Tibet” and “did not stop activities to break up China.

Meanwhile, an official of the Tibetan government-in-exile told the Taipei Times on condition of anonymity that all the Tibetan Buddhist leaders attending this year’s forum are known to have close ties to and relations with the CCP’s leadership and therefore could no be said to truly represent Tibetan Buddhism.

“Recognized and estimated leaders of Tibetan Buddhism’s four sects are all living in exile,” the official said. “None of them were invited to the World Buddhist Forum.”

Number of unemployed may hit 1.3 million: Tsai
　

HEADING FOR A RECORD: The DPP chairperson panned the government for its broken promises and ineffective policies at a demonstration in Taipei
　

By Loa Iok-sin and Shelley Huang
STAFF REPORTERS
Monday, Mar 30, 2009, Page 3
　

Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) warned yesterday that the number of unemployed in the nation may hit a record high of 1.3 million in June if the government does not come up with effective policies.

“The latest official number is 600,000 unemployed as of last month and that number is likely to go up to 700,000 this month,” Tsai said during a demonstration to protest high unemployment in Taipei yesterday.

“But don’t forget that among the 300,000 people who graduated from university this year, 40 percent to 50 percent of them are still unemployed,” she said. “With many people currently on unpaid leave and 300,000 more graduating in May and June, the number of unemployed will soon hit a record high of 1.3 million.”

Tsai slammed the government for being incapable of coming up with effective policies to combat the problem. She said the government has made many promises and presented many policies to create more jobs in the 10 months since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office in May — but none of the promises have been fulfilled and none of the policies have been effective.

“More than 680,000 jobs — they promised — should have been created if the policies had been effective and we wouldn’t have such a serious unemployment issue,” Tsai said.

Huang Hsin-che (黃鑫哲), a 20-year-old college freshman, said he is already worried about getting a job.

“At this time last year, I was getting ready to head to Kenting [墾丁] for the Spring Scream [Rock Festival],” Huang said, “But this year, I want to scream at Ma Ying-jeou: ‘I want a job.’”

Huang said it is hard to even find a part-time job.

Another college senior from Tainan said he was frightened by the fact that he would graduate in June and may not be able to find a job.

“It’s not just about being unemployed, it’s also about how am I going to pay for my NT$100,000 [US$2,900] student loan after I graduate,” he said.

In related news, at a separate setting yesterday Council of Labor Affairs Minister Jennifer Wang (王如玄) said “internships count as jobs, too” in response to critics who say a sizable number of the job openings the government has promised to provide were short-term internships.

The Executive Yuan has called on various agencies, including the council, the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Council of Agriculture, the National Youth Commission and the Coast Guard Administration to provide 341,000 job openings this year. The government has also promised to provide jobs for 40,000 people at four job fairs to be held in various parts of the country.

However, 33,500 of the job openings under the education ministry are internships and only available to this year’s college graduates.

Faced with criticism that the government’s promise of 40,000 job openings would not be met, Wang said: “The government will definitely fulfill its promise.”

“Even though the 40,000 job openings under the Ministry of Education are internships at privately owned firms, the costs are paid for by the government. So the nature of the job opening is actually the same as a civil servant position,” she said at a press conference.

Son Yu-lian (孫友聯), secretary-general of the Taiwan Labour Front, criticized government officials for playing a numbers game.

Saying that mass job fairs were like carnivals that attract job seekers who “go from being hopeful to being disappointed and then finally give up,” Son proposed the government bolster local employment service centers, so that people do not have to travel so far to find a job.

Ma making the job easy for China

Monday, Mar 30, 2009, Page 8

The third group of Chinese tourists organized by Amway (China) has arrived. While the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) views business opportunities as the greatest significance of the visiting Amway employees and future Chinese tourist groups, it does not feel their exaggerated and preposterous behavior worth mentioning, nor is the government concerned that Chinese tourism is taking precedence over tourism from Japan, the US and Europe.

In China, the central government decides according to its political needs how many people can travel abroad, who can go and where they can travel.

The China-leaning Ma administration desperately needs more Chinese tourists to come to fulfill the president’s campaign promises. China therefore sees no problem in sending a few more tourists because they will get back their investment — with good returns.

The Ma administration is pinning its hopes for the economy on China and is falling all over itself to do so. China has welcomed these moves and seized the opportunity to intensify its “Taiwan-related efforts.”

Huang Mengfu (黃孟復), a vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, which is charged with China’s united front work, visited Taiwan last month.

Fujian Province, which is on the frontline of China’s “Taiwan-related efforts” has also been hard at work. After a visit to Taiwan by Fujian Deputy Governor Ye Shuangyu (葉雙瑜), Xiamen Mayor Liu Cigui (劉賜貴) arrived in Taiwan last Monday with the goal of establishing a test zone for cross-strait financial cooperation and attracting Taiwanese investment for 10 of China’s major industries.

Since the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) took office in May, China has given priority to luring capital from Taiwan and undermining its economy.

China’s strategy to deal with Taiwan has always included exploiting business to influence political developments toward the goal of unification.

The Ma administration’s professed support of “eventual unification” has belittled Taiwan in comparison with China and Ma’s reluctance to clarify his interpretation of “one China” has proven a blessing for Beijing.

During the days of former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), China could only count on greedy Taiwanese businesspeople along with some politicians who were past their expiration dates to try to brainwash Taiwan into relying on China.

After taking office, the Ma administration and large Taiwanese business groups with huge investments in China are going full steam ahead, collaborating to make the public believe that China is Taiwan’s only economic hope. With political leaders and businesspeople in Taiwan pursuing the same goals, China does not even have to exploit business to influence political affairs in Taiwan because Taiwan is knocking at its door.

China claims the proposed cross-strait trade agreement that has caused such an outcry within Taiwan was the initiative of the Ma government, which, to quote Beijing, is falling all over itself to sign the dotted line.

China welcomes such developments and has switched to softer tactics. It is now willing to allow Taiwan some benefits. As long as Taiwan is willing to integrate with China economically, political issues will be easier to negotiate. To catch a big fish, cast your net wide.

In light of this, China will not only continue to allow large numbers of tourists to visit Taiwan, it will also offer Taiwan economic benefits at the upcoming talks between the Straits Exchange Foundation and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait or at talks on the proposed economic agreement.

Beijing’s goal is to expedite unification through economic means. Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan, along with other trade and business exchanges are aimed at connecting Taiwan and China economically.

Once that connection has been made, Taiwanese capital will flow into China and it will end up like Hong Kong, where the economy is controlled by Beijing.

Chinese academic Hu Angang (胡鞍鋼) once said that Taiwan needs China like a diabetic needs insulin and that it would cease to exist within seven days if China imposed economic sanctions.

If an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) is signed, it wouldn’t even take seven days to bring Taiwan to its knees: China would have only to turn off Taiwan’s economic resources and we would be in peril.

With the power to manipulate its economy in the hands of another country, the death of Taiwan as a nation is all but certain.

The economy is the focus of China’s “Taiwan-related efforts,” but in addition to tourism and trade, Beijing is pursuing its agenda through the media, religion, education and culture. Even an upcoming forum on Hakka affairs is not immune. Yet the Ma administration continues to open up to China.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) made a six-point proposal three months ago which, in addition to emphasizing the “one China” principle, included a desire to cooperate with the Democratic Progressive Party and Taiwan’s military.

Recent reports have also said that China may invite former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) to visit and that China had proposed cross-strait military confidence-building mechanisms. These are all clear examples of the speed at which China is carrying out its Taiwan agenda.

China’s strategy for dealing with Taiwan has remained unchanged for many years: It is a policy of swallowing Taiwan whole. Although it has not renounced the use of force against Taiwan, it deems the risks too high and instead talks of “peaceful unification” and “one country, two systems.”

Although its goal remains unchanged, its methods and rhetoric are being applied in increasingly flexible ways. Faced with an aggressive enemy that is closing in day by day, the Ma administration has chosen to surrender the economy, belittle Taiwan diplomatically and downsize the military.

By kowtowing to Beijing, Taiwan is quickly falling into its trap and will not be able to extricate itself. This is why the proposed ECFA has caused a public outcry and why 58 percent of respondents in a recent opinion poll said they were dissatisfied with Ma’s performance, calling him incapable of governing.

People who care about Taiwan’s survival should unite and take action to prevent the ECFA from becoming reality, oppose China’s united front strategy and abandon the president.

What should we do to put an end to prejudice?
　

By Hawang Shiow-duan 黃秀端
Monday, Mar 30, 2009, Page 8

The recent controversy surrounding articles by Kuo Kuan-ying (郭冠英), the former acting director of the information division at Taiwan’s representative office in Toronto, concerns one of the most sensitive topics in Taiwan — that of ethnicity. Yet President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) kept quiet about the controversy for days on end as public outrage continued.

If Ma is sincere about wanting to foster ethnic harmony, his actions were too slow.

The government needs to be proactive on this issue. Taiwan is plagued by various forms of prejudice.

There is discrimination based on ethnicity, class and gender, and discrimination against foreign spouses and workers. It is high time we take these issues seriously.

After the world saw millions of Jews murdered in World War II as a result of the ideas of racial superiority propagated by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, countries around the globe felt compelled to stop the use of language and actions that encourage racism and incite hatred.

To combat hatred and prejudice and encourage peaceful coexistence among all races and groups, the UN passed the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in 1965, which has been signed by 173 countries.

Of course, discrimination and conflict between various groups cannot be solved merely by signing an agreement and racial conflict continues to be a serious problem all over the world.

Those concerned with this problem may support establishing legislation — where it doesn’t exist — stipulating that all ethnic groups are equal and outlawing all forms of discrimination.

This is feasible and has been carried out in some countries. Canada’s Criminal Code outlaws inciting or encouraging hatred and promoting genocide.

France has laws against the use of aggressive words, slander and insults to incite discrimination, hatred or violence, while the EU has the most complete anti-discrimination legal framework in the world.

Last year, the Legislative Council of Hong Kong passed the Chinese territory’s first anti-racism law.

But before introducing legislation on hate crimes and discrimination, the potential effects must be considered, including whether such laws will infringe upon freedom of speech.

Attention must be given to the methods that would be used to combat discrimination and whether the measures are in line with the principle of proportionality.

Other important issues that need consideration include whether a society supports a law and whether the legislation could actually lead to social differentiation.

One way to deal with this is to hold public opinion forums before proceeding with legislation to give various sections of society a chance to forge a consensus through rational and informed discussion. This could help forge an agreement on what is acceptable and what is not.

We should not rush legislation on this matter. Pushing through legislation without careful consideration could create a tool for politicians in oppressing the opposition.

The effectiveness of our judicial system is crucial. Furthermore, it is essential that everyone treat each other respectfully and that politicians not be allowed to exploit racial differences to mobilize support. These are principles we must bear in mind if we are to achieve ethnic harmony.

Hawang Shiow-duan is a political science professor at Soochow University.