Chapter 13: A Strategic Posture Review of International Cyberspace
This essay was translated by CUI Li and proofread by LI Jingquan and WU Chengyi.
In 2016, the international community witnessed frequent ups and downs of significant events echoed by unusually intense competition in international cyberspace. Cyber conflicts loomed large in such events as the Ukraine crisis, the war against the Islamic State (IS), the North Korean nuclear issue, the South China Sea dispute, weather and nuclear security issues, and the wars of oil price and currency. Meanwhile, a sharp increase has occurred in cyberspace activities such as cyber hacking, cyber crime, cyber espionage, cyber counterterrorism, and cyber war, which has led to the gradual worsening of the strategic posture in cyberspace. Confronted with such a posture, how to promote international cyber cooperation within the United Nations (UN) framework in order to guarantee strategic stability in cyberspace has increasingly become a major issue that imperatively needs to be addressed by the international community.
