WikiLeaks began on Sunday the process of releasing a cache of over a quarter-million U.S. diplomatic cables to the public. In anticipation of the leak, the U.S. Department of State warned foreign governments of the impending release, and world leaders braced for an embarrassing diplomatic fallout.
Rather than the shocking revelations diplomats were preparing for, the latest cache mostly confirms what many already suspected about the United States' relations with other countries.
For example, a cable detailing communication between the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and a Chinese contact reveals that the Chinese government has been recruiting hackers and security experts to access computers belonging to the U.S. government, our Western allies and American businesses — including Google — for eight years. That Chinese hackers have accessed information from American computers is not surprising — many experts already suspected as much — but the massive extent of the incursion and the clear role of the Chinese government in organizing it does forecast the degree to which attacks and infiltrations through cyberspace will come to define worldwide diplomatic relations in the coming years.
Far from provoking a diplomatic upheaval, the cables have generated measured and often understated responses from foreign leaders. While many have condemned WikiLeaks for publishing information that could potentially damage their nation's security, none so far have outwardly expressed that the latest leak will impact their relations with the United States or other countries in a significant way.
Still, it is inevitable that our allies will be more reluctant to share sensitive information with American diplomats. Though few foreign officials have openly condemned the United States, a leak of this much information — regardless of how sensitive or innocuous it might be — is an embarrassment for U.S. diplomats and will undoubtedly strain relations between the United States and its allies.
Though the leaked cables have not ignited a diplomatic disaster, they certainly don't qualify as innocuous. Some of the leaked documents yield tremendous insight about U.S. relations with foreign nations.
The government's attitude toward North Korea is particularly interesting as the documents, as described by the New York Times, show South Korea and the United States preparing for the eventual collapse of North Korea. The cables also show that China, North Korea's largest ally, is growing frustrated with North Korea's political and economic instability and is prepared for its eventual collapse and reunification with South Korea, as long as a potential reunified Korea provides it with ample commercial opportunities in the Korean peninsula.
The fact that China is comfortable with the possibility of North Korea's collapse does not bode well for its future. It casts North Korea's latest attack on South Korea not as the beginning of a great military campaign, but rather as a desperate display of force from a dying regime.
The documents also show that Middle Eastern support for the U.S. effort to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons is more widespread than previously thought. Several Arab leaders, including King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, have urged the United States to launch an air strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
This latest round of leaks yields few major revelations, but it does provide a more unfiltered and honest picture of American diplomacy that historians usually must wait several decades to uncover.
