Google's denunciation of China--what really matters

Nearly all the editorials and comments so far have talked about freedom of speech. Some have disparaged Google for trying to make a business decision look like a moral one (I'm not saying this is true or false).

Few have talked about the fact that all this came to a boil because China started a massive cyberattack on computers physically located in America in order to hunt down Chinese dissidents the government thinks are using gmail to communicate with each other.

Such attacks are a violation of American sovereignty. China is no different from dozens of other fascist dictatorships in suppressing freedom of speech domestically. But it stands alone in the cyber warfare it conducts worldwide but especially against America. It routinely steals trade secrets and constantly tries to steal military information from us. The NSA probably knows a lot about this, but they aren't talking--nor should they. But attacks on American private companies, such as the recent one on Google, are also violations of our sovereignty.

Everybody spies on everybody, and I'm sure we try to spy on China just as they do on us. I'm not making a moral argument here. Just pointing out that China's government is engaging in a massive cyberwar on our political and business interests, and whether you applaud Google's stance or not, or even whether you believe in freedom of speech or not, it's incumbent on us to build up the battalions of hackers comparable to those the Chinese government employs to steal from us, compromise our military security, and spy on our systems as part of their system of repression at home.

That's what we should be most concerned about.