China's cyber-war machine threatens us all Yet the threat to our wellbeing caused by internet crime is relatively manageable when compared to the havoc that would be wrought if Britain were to fall victim to a sustained attack by China's growing army of cyber-warriors. In the unlikely event of a deterioration in relations between our countries, experts believe the Chinese have the capacity to launch a "clickskreig" against the British mainland, knocking out vital elements of our national infrastructure, such as power stations and cash machines, simply by pressing a button. Even in today's more amicable climate, Chinese firms and state agencies have been implicated in a host of hacking attacks, on targets ranging from leading industrial and technology firms, to the Pentagon and other US government agencies, to the New York Times and Coca-Cola. From the late 1990s, however, this doctrine has been rigorously applied to cyberspace, where the Chinese have become adept at using the internet to defend their interests, as well as using their expertise for industrial espionage, by stealing technological know-how from Western competitors. Such is the official obsession with maintaining the country's position as the world's pre-eminent power in cyberwarfare that the PLA regularly holds national hacking competitions, in which the winners are rewarded with an immediate commission into the organisation's highly secretive cyber-command. Maintaining supremacy in the dark of arts of industrial espionage has almost become a national obsession, with frequent accusations that state agents have resorted to blackmail and murder. The family of Shane Todd, a 31-year-old Californian electronics engineer, are convinced that his unexplained death in Singapore last summer is related to sensitive research he was conducting for a Chinese company into hi-tech chemicals. What is beyond doubt is that, whether through fair means or foul, hardly a day passes without the Chinese being implicated in a high-profile hacking scandal. Major American defence contractors, such as Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon's main supplier, have been attacked on numerous occasions; in Britain, Chinese hackers have been accused of creating a new "spyware" program codenamed Beebus, which has been used to attack companies involved in the development of the next generation of drone aircraft. William Hague - who as Foreign Secretary oversees the work of Britain's intelligence agencies, including the GCHQ listening post at Cheltenham - is said by Whitehall insiders to be incensed by China's conduct, and has told Cabinet colleagues that Britain must make its displeasure known to Beijing, even if it means upsetting the lucrative trade ties between the countries. Mr Hague's ability to claim the moral high ground will have undoubtedly have been helped by a report this week in the New York Times (which saw its computer network come under sustained attack after publishing an investigation into the financial affairs of the relatives of Wen Jiabao, China's prime minister). It has identified a 12-floor office building in Shanghai as the headquarters of the PLA's Unit 61398, which is said to be responsible for launching hundreds of cyber-attacks against US government institutions. Whether Mr Cameron's agreement with the Indians will help to counter this threat, only time will tell. But the gravity of the situation has become increasingly clear. For years, China has consistently denied any involvement in such skulduggery. Today, those protestations of innocence ring less true than ever.