So if, say, Germany was found to have hired tens of thousands of hackers to break into companies and servers around the world, we should just chalk it up to their "different system" and let them off with a slap on the wrist?<p>Australia is currently attempting to censor movies, the internet, and video games in rather absurd ways--and just like China, they're getting criticized for it.  Why should China get special treatment?  Why shouldn't we be allowed to criticize them as we would criticize anyone else who did the same things?<p><i>but is similar to the system that has been in place for 5000 years of chinese civilisation.</i><p>There is absolutely nothing similar between China's current embarrassing actions and their glorious history prior to ~1800.  Merely <i>comparing</i> the current oligarchy to the institutions of the past is a huge insult to China and its history.