The Financial Times reports an interesting twist in the ongoing cyberespionage brouhaha:

The September edition of the Chinese Cadres Tribune was recalled quietly from circulation and replaced with a version that did not include the five-page article by Lou Qinjian, vice-minister of the Ministry of Information Industry.

…Russell Leigh Moses, a political analyst in Beijing, said Mr Lou’s article might have been taken out because it upset China’s national security departments or military, or because it reflected disagreement with aspects of policy agreed by top leaders.

Mr Lou’s repeated citing of the US and other western nations as a threat – alongside “hostile” forces such as the banned group – could also have been judged diplomatically un-helpful.

As I wrote about this earlier in September, Mr. Lou had made some very serious accusations and some very serious threats in his article.

I have no idea about the workings of the CCP and won’t bother to speculate as to what prompted this change. Despite the unfortunate manner by which Mr. Lou’s assertions have been effaced from an official publication, I welcome the effort to restrain the rhetoric on cyberespionage.

As the FT article points out, the 17th party congress begins in a couple of weeks.

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