Russia, China Overtake US in Cyber Technology

Russia and China have shattered the US illusion that no country can match it in terms of cyber technology, says an American investigative journalist.

“The US had always assumed that it was the master at computer technology and it could get away with whatever it wanted to do in terms of flipping into other countries’ computer systems,” David Lindorfftold Press TV.

“They have discovered that not only the Russians, but the Chinese are equally adept and capable of doing whatever the US does,” he added.

The US and China reached an agreement to expand cooperation on stopping cyber espionage, the US Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

China’s Ministry of Public security hailed the agreement, saying that would have a “major impact” on the implementation of internet security measures.

Lindorff said the US was forced to accept the agreement after the Chinese retaliated several high-profile American attempts of cyber espionage. 

The analyst, however, expressed doubt on the effectiveness of the deal, saying, both sides “are serial offenders and say they are not doing things that they are actually doing.”

“I doubt if it will stop it,” Lindorff stated.

The US has, for years, accused the Chinese government and military of conducting computer-based attacks, including efforts to steal information from federal agencies.

Beijing has dismissed Washington’s cyber attack accusations as hypocritical, since intelligence leaks have revealed that the US itself is the most active perpetrator of cyber espionage against foreign countries, especially against China.

Iran renews oil deals with China

In another development, Sinopec Corp, Asia’s largest refiner, and Chinese state trader Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp will together lift around 505,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Iran in 2016, the same as this year when they took roughly half of the Islamic Republic’s total exports, Reuters has quoted sources involved in the talks as saying.

China bought 536,500 bpd of Iranian crude oil in the 10 months to end-October, down 1.9 percent on a year ago as a third regular client, independent Dragon Aromatics, halted purchases for safety checks after a fire in April.

Iranian oil officials have met in the last two months with traders at Petro China, the country’s second-largest state refiner, and state-run CNOOC, which runs a petrochemical complex with Royal Dutch Shell, three sources involved in the talks said.

PetroChina’s parent company CNPC started pumping oil at Iran’s North Azadegan field around October with estimated flow of 75,000 bpd. An easing of sanctions could allow the company to start lifting its share of production.

Under the main China contracts renewed for 2016, Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp is expected to lift an average of 240,000 bpd and Sinopec 265,000 bpd, the sources said. 

Iran was China’s No.6 crude supplier in 2015, but faces competition from rivals like Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Iranian oil is more expensive than similar grades from other Middle Eastern suppliers due to its lower sulfur content and slightly higher yield of gasoline, said a senior trader with CNOOC.

The CNOOC-Shell petrochemical plant in southeastern Guangdong province could also be a replacement buyer for condensate, they said. The plant was forced to drop a regular supply pact in mid-2012 when the European Union put an embargo on trading Iranian oil.

R.S