China declared cyber-war on US two years ago, says John McAfee

[Thumpalumpacus]

I don't for a moment doubt that China has been bending its resources to penetrating our information base. It would be a natural state of affairs for any government to seek any possible advantage over any potential enemy, and America is not exempt, either as a perpetrator or a victim.

That's true, to some degree. Everyone does cyber espionage. But China's state-backed assault on US companies, stealing their secrets, doesn't qualify as moral equivalence, it qualifies as economic warfare.

And the burning question follows: is this economic warfare an isolated strategy, or is it a sign that China is operating from the playbook Unrestricted Warfare?

Unrestricted Warfare is a book written by two Chinese colonels, which is essentially an updated version of Sun Tzu's The Art Of War, which is a strategy to attack a rival through every means possible, not just military force. It's full spectrum asymmetric warfare with every piece of civilian infrastructure a target.

For once, we agree.

The point is: China shows all the signs of preparing to take America down, so why would we continue treating it like just another trade partner? It's time for sanctions. At the very least, we should be balancing trade across other nations, to make them rich, to balance the economic and military threat of China.

I don't think broad sanctions would be good. Targeted sanctions might work, alongside pressure to continue devaluing the yuan, could help send a message. But broad sanctions at the stroke of a pen would likely be a bluff that we don't have the cards to back. China could play havoc by replying to such a move by calling in or curtailing loans.