The US Internet giant Google seems reluctant to quietly retreat to Hong Kong. On March 31, it released a message stating that tens of thousands of computer users in Vietnam were being tracked by politically motivated malware. Some political activists' blogs or websites had been attacked. Although it did not name China-based hackers as the attackers, Google mentioned that those targeted opposed the Chinese company Chinalco's bauxite development project in Vietnam.
This information was published in a brief on Google's internet security website. Vietnam's "Electronic Finance Network" quoted the brief on April 1st, stating that this malware began spreading at the end of 2009 when a social group's homepage was compromised by a virus, and download links were embedded with Trojan horses. Google's security official, Neil Mehta, wrote in a blog post, "Specifically, these attacks aim to suppress opposition to China's bauxite mining project in Vietnam. The development of this project is an important and highly emotional topic in Vietnam."
The Tay Nguyen region is one of Vietnam's ethnic minority areas, bordering Laos and Cambodia, with higher terrain, referred to by Western media as the "Central Highlands." To develop the abundant bauxite resources in the Tay Nguyen region and boost regional economic growth, the Vietnamese government approved plans for bauxite processing projects. Some construction projects were contracted to Chinese companies and will be handed over to Vietnam National Coal Mineral Industries Group after completion. Such a normal cooperation project has been described by some Western media as China's influence entering Vietnam's "Central Highlands," accompanied by various speculations. Even some "online activists" who have never visited Tay Nguyen vividly portrayed China's "influence," inciting and instigating uninformed young netizens to make radical statements and actions. An activist named "Nong Feng Ren" (Wind Player) posted multiple articles on their blog about bauxite mining projects in the Tay Nguyen region and land disputes involving local churches and communities, using these issues to hype up and incite ** protests. Others claimed that toxic gases emitted from the project would damage the environment.
If such large-scale computer attacks occurred, the Vietnamese people themselves should be the most concerned. However, compared to the calmness of Vietnam's mainstream media regarding this matter, Western media appeared unusually excited. The Financial Times reported that amid renewed concerns about China tightening its internet control, a new wave of cyberattacks emerged. According to Reuters, human rights organizations and foreign journalists stated that several journalists and social activists working on China-related issues discovered that their Yahoo email accounts had been hacked this week. Yahoo did not comment on the nature of this account attack. The chief analyst of the American market research company Sterling speculated that the Chinese government and forces upholding government interests are launching broader challenges against Google and the internet.
While Google continues to stir up trouble, its plan to "retreat but not withdraw" may backfire. According to AFP, one of China's largest portal sites, Sina, announced on April 1st that it is re-evaluating its cooperation with Google following the latter's exit from mainland China. A spokesperson for Sina declined to provide more details but said, "Google indeed owes all its Chinese business partners an explanation." Previously, China's second-largest mobile operator, China Unicom, announced that it would remove Google's search function from the new phones developed through their collaboration with the American company.