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China's Attacks on Trade Reform Website
Jesse Richman, 9/17/2013

One of the important facts of international politics today is that international borders are permeable.  States with an interest in shaping the domestic politics of competitors have both the incentive to do so, and a wide range of opportunities and tools with which to engage that political process.  Democratic countries, because of their greater openness, are particularly vulnerable to such intrusions. 

Recent Chinese-origin attacks on the www.tradereform.org website are in this light both encouraging and discouraging.  The discouraging aspect is that this reflects the intensity of efforts to prevent the United States from adopting policies that balance trade.  The encouraging aspect is that, perhaps, this implies that efforts to balance trade are gaining sufficient political traction to justify attack.