US desperate to maintain cyber supremacy

Cyber security must be high on Central Military Commission Vice-Chairman Fan Changlong's agenda during his ongoing visit to the United States, especially after the US Department of Homeland Security said last week that the computers of the Office of Personnel Management had been hacked and data on about 4 million federal employees stolen.

As if they were waiting, major US media outlets immediately jumped the gun to say China had "hacked" US government websites. The New York Times website even alleged the same Chinese hackers had stolen personnel information from health insurance giants Anthem and Premera Blue Cross.

The US government and media are never tired of speculating on the "China cyber-threat" theory, which seems to have replaced the "China climate threat", "China environment threat" and "China food threat" theories. True, their enthusiasm for sensationalizing cyber issues ebbed after former National Security Agency operative Edward Snowden exposed the US' surveillance program, which even targeted American citizens and allies, but they are unlikely to give up this game as long as cyber security remains a major issue.