China Hits Back At Obama Over Software Backdoors

The hostile business environment in China with regards to Western technology firms continues, with the Chinese and American governments clashing over Beijing’s demand for backdoor access to foreign software.

It comes after China earlier this year demanded that foreign firms hand over their source code for inspection to ensure that their devices are not spying tools for Western intelligence agencies.

Backdoor Controversy

China wants to tighten up on the technology it uses from the West, in the light of the Edward Snowden revelations about the scope of NSA snooping.

Last June for example, Microsoft was forced to deny that the Windows 8 operating system had a backdoor for the NSA spooks. That denial came after the Chinese government banned the use of Windows 8 on governmental computers, citing “security concerns”. Apple, Cisco and other firms have also been hit by the clampdown.

So the Chinese government has proposed new “counterterrorism rules” for US tech companies, with software companies being forced to hand over backdoor access to software, in order to protect state and business secrets. Foreign firms will also be required to hand over any encryption keys used to secure their software.

The second draft of the country’s first anti-terrorism laws has been read by a Chinese parliamentary body last week and is expected to become law within the next couple of weeks or months. The first draft required foreign companies to keep servers and user data within China, supply law enforcement authorities with communications records, and censor terrorism-related Internet content.

But President Obama hit out at the new laws this week in an interview with Reuters, in which he expressed his concern at the proposals.

“This is something that I’ve raised directly with President Xi,” Obama was quoted as saying. “We have made it very clear to them that this is something they are going to have to change if they are to do business with the United States.”

The laws “would essentially force all foreign companies, including U.S. companies, to turn over to the Chinese government mechanisms where they can snoop and keep track of all the users of those services,” Obama said. “As you might imagine tech companies are not going to be willing to do that.”

Obama also pointed out that the new laws could also backfire on China.

“Those kinds of restrictive practices I think would ironically hurt the Chinese economy over the long term because I don’t think there is any US or European firm, any international firm, that could credibly get away with that wholesale turning over of data, personal data, over to a government,” he said.

Chinese Response

But China has hit back at Obama, and said that it is doing nothing that Western governments, including in the United States and Britain, already do.

And it is true that for years the UK and US have requested tech firms disclose their encryption methods, but with varying degrees of success.

“The legislation is China’s domestic affair, and we hope the US side can take a right, sober and objective view towards it,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

She pointed to the recent revelation that SIM card maker Gemalto has been hacked by the British and American intelligence services.

“On the information-security issue, there was a

Late last month, Gemalto’s ‘thorough investigation’ concluded GCHQ and the NSA was probably behind the ‘sophisticated intrusion’ of its computer systems.

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