[a_p]

The only thing as breathtaking as the amount of information the Chinese military has stolen is how dysfunctional their military is. Here [1] is an excellent article about corruption in the Chinese military. The Chinese government is a bizarre mix of authoritarianism, greed, patronage and nationalism, and it has no clear structure. The military is no different. It doesn't matter how much technology they have; as long as the military has no internal cohesion and accountability, they will never overtake the United States.

Here's a quote from the article, citing a 'princeling':

" "China no longer has a paramount leader who can hammer down authority at crucial junctures. "Gangs" of patronage and bribery are congealing together, he said, adding that "Corruption is the glue that keeps the whole system together, after the age of idealism." "

And another:

" A third princeling, whose father once ran China's security apparatus, blames Jiang for sabotaging the last leadership transition in 2002 by refusing to relinquish control of the military. He said Jiang promoted dozens of generals who are, as he put it, either "henchmen" or "morons." The result is that nobody is really in control, he said. "

[1] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/04/16/rotting_fro...

Note: You don't have to sign up for foreignpolicy.com to read the article. Just disable JS or stop the page from loading before the popup shows up.

[Asterick6]

Such articles like the OP's seem to cater to alarmism and hyperbole as these kind of events occur all the time. The difference here is that the US gov is being quite unprofessional by resorting to publicizing these events. Also, it's quite trivial/foolish to care whether or not any country will overtake the US (or another country). The way I see it - decreasing the US' influence may actually be beneficial. Rather than a unipolar/bipolar world, there can be a multipolar world. Maybe it'll reduce the crap that the US gov does/causes domestically and internationally, as it seems the fed believes it can ignore accountability because of supposed exceptionalism.

[ericd]

There has existed a multipolar world in the past, in Europe. That world was very frequently in a state of overt war, so it's not clear that that's a better state of affairs than an unchallenged dominant nation.

[adaml_623]

"quite unprofessional by resorting to publicizing these events"

What kind of bizarre world are you imagining where governments are meant to or do act "professionally". The international diplomatic community is indeed a noxious swamp where immoral and illegal activities get ignored and hushed up all the time. However it's also an environment where governments release stories to their populations through newspapers. Like China provoking that fight with Japan over islands and pretty much every story in the Daily Mail in the UK (or is it the Sun?).

The activities described in this article are shameful and it is one of the tragedies of this age that large organisations whether governments or corporations literally have no shame or morals. And more importantly nor do we have a way of requiring them to act rationally, reasonably or morally.

[smcl]

Or you could add this little bookmarklet to clear the lightbox: http://blog.mclemon.cz/hiding-foreign-policys-social-media-p...