西方有奇人,自号维基解密,窥得美利坚使节与朝中书信,布告天下,举世哗然。天朝以为美利坚有通天之能,可擒奇人于弹指间,然天朝所不解者,美利坚之无为也。奇人泄密之事,国人皆知,而国人所不知者,所泄为何也。国人之所以不知者,言路塞于墙也。
天朝之所虑,奇人之所言,美利坚之所不为。美使书信既泄,则天朝所晦者亦有曝光之虞。今天朝持异议者众,旦为所诱,恐窃国晦托于奇人而召天下,为祸未可测。以此观之,止国晦之流于奇人手,实乃军机处燃眉之要务。
腊月初二,有无名氏撰文于天朝官报《万国春秋》(Global Times),题曰《对维卿问》(Questions Linger Around WikiLeaks),可见朝中之忧。文曰:维卿引洪水决堤,天下诸王俱有倾覆之危。处置旦有差池,则樯倾楫摧。诸邦国力不一,智识有别,对策自当各异。强如美利坚者,握天下言路之柄,当泰然处之;国力益增如天朝者,纵言路益广,亦当筑一长城以御离心惑众之论。
CHINESE FEARS: WIKILEAKS CAN ENDANGER SOCIAL STABILITY
B.RAMAN
The Chinese authorities have told their people of the tsunami of documents of the US Government being flooded into the public domain by WikiLeaks. They are surprised that the US Government has not taken action to block its web site, which should be easy for it to do. The Chinese people are aware of WikiLeaks, but not of the contents. They have been denied access to the contents so far.
2. Their main concern is that WikiLeaks may not stop with leaking US Government documents. It may start acquiring and leaking the documents of other countries, including China. Political dissidents in China may be tempted to get hold of Government documents and pass them on to WikiLeaks. If this happens, the implications for China’s political and social stability could be immense. How to prevent Chinese documents from reaching WikiLeaks? That is the question, that is urgently engaging the attention of the Chinese security agencies.
3. Some of the Chinese concerns are reflected in an editorial titled ” Questions Linger Around WikiLeaks” carried by the party-controlled “Global Times” on December 2,2010. It says inter alia:” Once WikiLeaks sets its sights on other countries, the fallout could be drastic. Leaked information could severely damage the social stability of nations that are not able to handle the release of so much sensitive information. An information tsunami is flooding every country, but different countries have different abilities to control and absorb it.Developed countries, especially the US, dominate the global flow of information at the moment. Countries like China, despite their rising status in the information world, must have a line of defense against a hurtful information campaign. ” ( 2-12-10)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail:seventyone2@gmail.com )