I am surprised that some comments state that it "has to be linux". Since they can't magically reduce the time it would take to develop something that complex nowhere near their time constraints, it obviously has to start with something that already exists. But Linux is not the only open source OS out there, folks. If I were charged with this task, i'd start with OpenBSD, given its focus on security. The fact that most of base is BSD licensed also helps because no changes would be legally required to be opensourced. It also can run modern web browsers and libreoffice, which is a significant part of what goes for "desktop" computing these days.
Why would a Chinese Linux derivative need be open source? It's not like you're going to go into China and force the government to comply with your license.
It would be legally required to be opensource, whereas with BSD it wouldn't. That's all I argued. Whether some country will try to enforce it via whatever means is another question altogether.
