China is the "technological enemy" of WikiLeaks: Assange

LONDON: China is the "technological enemy" of WikiLeaks and not the United States, according to Julian Assange, the founder of the whistle-blower website which is fighting a running battle to penetrate the aggressive and sophisticated Chinese censorship.

"China is the worst offender," when it comes to censorship, says the controversial Australian hacker, now on bail in Britain fighting attempts to extradite him to Sweden over claims of sexual assaults.

The "technological enemy" of WikiLeaks is not the US but China, 39-year-old Assange was quoted as saying in an interview.

"China has aggressive and sophisticated interception technology that places itself between every reader inside China and every information source outside China. We've been fighting a running battle to make sure we can get information through, and there are now all sorts of ways Chinese readers can get on to our site," he said.

China Internet czars censor any information deemed sensitive or damaging to the ruling Communist Party's grip on power. China's netizens have no access to WikiLeaks website after authorities blocked the site.

On Bradley Manning, the US soldier accused of leaking the diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks, Assange says: "I'd never heard his name before it was published in the press."

He argues that the US is trying to use Manning, currently detained in solitary confinement in the US, to build a case against him.

"Cracking Bradley Manning is the first step," he says. "The aim clearly is to break him and force a confession that he somehow conspired with me to harm the national security of the United States."

Such conspiracy would be impossible, Assange says. "WikiLeaks technology was designed from the very beginning to make sure that we never knew the identities or names of people submitting material. We are as untraceable as we are uncensorable. That's the only way to assure sources they are protected," he said.

Assange's lawyers have warned that if he is extradited to America, he could face the death penalty for embarrassing the leaders of the US government.

Assange also claimed that he had files on media mogul Rupert Murdoch. If something happens to me or to WikiLeaks, 'insurance' files will be released," he warned.

The contents of these files are unknown, but, according to Assange, "[t]hey speak more of the same truth to power." It is not just government that should be worried about the content of these files, however. "There are 504 US embassy cables on one broadcasting organisation and there are cables on Murdoch and News Corp," he said.