Hi and welcome to Sabirism's malicious life B-side. I'm Ran Levy. A while ago we dedicated two episodes to China's Golden Shield, the massive IT infrastructure project that combined

internet censorship with pervasive state surveillance. Some time later we did

another mini-series on China, this time about its unrestricted warfare

philosophy and troubled relationship with Western technology companies such as Nortel.

In these episodes we talked a lot about how the Chinese government tries to enforce its rules and regulations on the country's internet and how it restricts Western

influence.

But what we didn't talk about is why?

Why do the Chinese try to control the flow of information in and out of the country

and force Western companies such as Google and Apple to play by its rules. In order to answer these questions, it's

not enough to be like tourists who sample the country's food, music and architecture for a few days and then leave.

China, as you probably know, has a very long history that goes back thousands of years and an extremely rich and varied

culture. This in turn has a direct impact on how the Chinese view the global

internet and the Western influence it brings.

Our guest in the Unrestricted Warfare miniseries was Retired Lieutenant Colonel Bill

Haystag, who after serving in the Marines for three decades became a visiting scholar at China's People Liberation Army,

and one of the very few Western people who developed close ties with high-ranking military officials.

Bill talked to Nate Nelson, our producer, and part of the conversation revolved around the impact China's

history and culture has on its decisions and actions regarding the Internet.

That part of the interview had no room in the context of the

miniseries back then, and so we decided to save it for later and play it for you in a dedicated B-side episode.

That's it from me.

Enjoy the interview.

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