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Strategies for Engaging China in Cyberspace

By experts and staff

Published
  • Adam SegalCFR Expert
    Ira A. Lipman Chair in Emerging Technologies and National Security and Director of the Digital and Cyberspace Policy Program
Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger speaks before introducing Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at a dinner hosted by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and the U.S.-China Business Council at the Waldorf Astoria in New York September 22, 2010. (Keith Bedford/Courtesy Reuters)

A little less than two weeks after the China Youth Daily published a piece explaining why China might have to fight a cyberwar, the People’s Liberation Army Daily has called for the military to defend national networks and improve combat capabilities in cyberspace. Both articles spend a great deal of time going through a long litany of complaints about the United States: it is trying to dominate cyberspace; was the first to militarize the Internet by setting up U.S. Cyber Command; and uses Twitter, Facebook, and other networking tools to undermine governments it does not like.

While the identity of the attackers in the hacks of RSA, Lockheed Martin, and the IMF remains uncertain, suspicion about China is high and so the discussion about what the United States should do about attacks from China has gotten louder. Several strategies have been aired recently:

The United States currently is pursuing all four of these strategies. All, however, have significant weaknesses and the differences between the two sides remain deep and wide. So the real question is, will these be enough, and if not, what else should we be doing?