Cyber Politics in US–China Relations

The following sections are included:

• Acknowledgements
• Contents

Since 2013, cyber issues have become of utmost importance and sensitivity for US–China relations. As early as the end of the 20th century, the American scholar Joseph Nye pointed out that “just as nuclear dominance was the key to coalition leadership in the old era, information dominance will be the key in the information age.” The Chinese scholar Yan Xuetong also pointed out that “the cyber issues will replace that of nuclear weapons, becoming the core of the competition between China and the United States (US). Nuclear weapons are only relevant to military competition, while cyber issues pertain to both military and civil fields like air, water, electricity and gas.” Kenneth G. Lieberthal and Peter W. Singer have stated that “There is perhaps no relationship as significant to the future of world politics as that between the US and China. And in their relationship, there is no issue that has risen so quickly and generated so much friction as cybersecurity.” The benefits brought by network information technology and its leading role in future societal development make it a basic element of a country’s comprehensive national strength and a key judge of national strategic competitiveness. The control and utilization of information resources has become an important means for a country to participate in and influence the international arena.

Throughout history, technology has had a profound effect on international relations. Ocean navigation technology greatly facilitated the overseas colonial expansion of the European powers from the 16th to 18th centuries. This was followed by the invention of the telegraph, which became the main communication tool of these colonial empires in the 19th century. The evolution of international relations in the 20th century could be credited to the appearance and the popularity of airplanes, radios, and televisions. Now in the 21st century, the Internet is providing new opportunities and challenges for our world as cyber politics is taking root domestically and internationally…

Based on the theoretical analysis in the first chapter, this chapter focuses on the overall situation of the cyber politics between China and the US from a practical point of view using a macro-perspective analysis of the relationship between two states in cyberspace. “There is perhaps no relationship as significant to the future of world politics as that between the US and China. And in their relationship, there is no issue that has risen so quickly and generated so much friction as cybersecurity.” The unjustifiable accusations made by the US against China, including the “Google incident,” the accusation of “cyber theft,” the label of “the most serious threat to cybersecurity,” and the criticism of the human rights abuse relating to lack of “Internet freedom” have all led to increasingly frequent frictions between China and the US related to cyberspace issues. As a result, “Concerns over this domain (cyberspace) have rapidly moved to the forefront of US–China relations.” Some even define the relationship between China and the US in cyberspace as a digital version of the new Cold War. Consequently, it is inevitable for the study of US–China relations to involve cyberspace. In fact, there have been new trends of competition, conflict, and cooperation in US–China relations in the process of global cyberization. In particular, with the rise of China’s national strength and the improvement of the cyberization level of its society, the difference and common grounds between China and the US on cyberspace have begun to expand at the same time.

In international politics, geopolitics occupies an elevated position, made up by the theoretical schools of sea power, land power, air power, and space power theories. The end of the Cold War and the coincidental claims of “the end of history” upended traditional geopolitical thinking. Notably, given the global connectivity of the Internet, some scholars believed that the state and geopolitical politics in the traditional sense became outdated, and the combination of cyberspace and geopolitics is not practical. This idea is not unfounded. Not only does modern network technology change the concept of distance and the flow of information across traditional state borders, but some mechanisms of cyberspace and their benefits also transcend national boundaries, resulting in blurred national sovereign boundaries and dispersed power. In addition, at the early stage of the development of the Internet, technical elites shaped and dominated the norms of cyberspace governance. National governments basically adopted an attitude of laissez-faire data transmission, in line with the optimistic idea that cyberspace belongs to the “global commons” and should be a space that is not regulated by governments. In other words, geopolitical concepts should not apply to cyberspace…

Alvin Toffler, an American futurist, predicted in 1983 that mankind would enter the era of information politics. He pointed out that information is closely correlated with power and politics and will become even more so as we move into the era of “info-politics.” Nowadays, with the full penetration and application of the Internet, we have entered the era of cyber politics. The Internet that was originally used as a social and economic tool is quietly undergoing various changes. It is treated not only as an important means in the military field but also as an effective political tool widely used by governments and the public. The phenomenon of cyber politicization is everywhere around the world…

The formation and development of the cybersecurity issue between China and the US has been a long-term process. In the current era, the world’s largest developing and developed country, China and the US, respectively, are facing cybersecurity issues that are increasing in scope and complexity. Cybersecurity has been garnering increased attention for the international community, attracting the attention of both the Chinese and American governments. The US continues to elevate the significance of cybersecurity in its national security strategy. The Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community in 2013 listed cyber threats as the top national threats facing the US. For China, the importance of cyberspace security matches that of ocean and space security, causing the Chinese government to adopt a strategic perspective in this realm…

The choices of China and the US in their respective cyberspace strategies are the most important variables affecting US–China relations. The choice of cyberspace strategy depends on many factors, such as the respective perceptions of China and the US on the overall cyberspace environment and their own cyberspace threats, their goals and interests in cyberspace, cyberspace-related actions, and discourse strategies adopted by them, the mutual response of China and the US to each other’s strategic choices, as well as the international community’s evaluation of cyberspace strategies of China and the US. Cyberspace interest and threat perceptions of China and the US have previously been explained in Chapter V. This chapter analyzes the goals, positioning, models, strategies, and focuses of cyberspace strategies of China and the US from a comparative perspective.

Discourse is another important variable in cyber political calculations made between China and the US, therefore making it worthy of analysis. In this field, the influence of security discourse is the most profound. The key to discourse effect lies in how an audience understands language and how it contributes to idea construction…

The issue of strategic mutual trust is an important variable that affects US–China cyber politics. With the increasing clamor related to cyber issues between the two countries, a diverse range of scholarship has been published on the topic. Apart from analyzing the essence of cyber disputes between China and the US, scholars have put forward various suggestions on how to improve the cyber relationship, of which building strategic mutual trust in cyberspace is most frequently mentioned. However, what does this mean? What is the current status of US–China strategic mutual trust in cyberspace? What are the key issues? What are the influencing factors and the reasons behind this? Without serious consideration of these issues, it is futile to simply suggest enhancing strategic trust in cyberspace. Therefore, this chapter attempts to explore the answers to the above questions from the perspective of strategic mutual trust in cyberspace.

The final step of this study on US–China cyber politics is to project the future development of US–China cyber politics through an analysis of issues and causes. Based on this purpose, this chapter focuses on several key phrases, namely, “responsibility of great powers,” “a community of a shared future in cyberspace,” and “new US–China great powers relations.” It first analyzes the logic of the importance of great powers in cyberspace governance and then moves to an analysis of the inevitability of the Chinese-sponsored “community of a shared future” in cyberspace. Finally, it puts forward suggestions for the construction of a new type of US–China relations under the framework of a community of a shared future in cyberspace.

All international relations contain implicit or explicit political implications to some degree. However, the cyber-political issue in US–China relations has its special contents and meanings, because the cyberspace problem in a way has become the core of the competition and one of the most important and sensitive issues in US–China relations. Meanwhile, the combination of cyberspace and the politics is moving from “low politics” to “high politics.” Cyber-political issues have therefore become an important issue in bilateral relations…

The following sections are included:

• Bibliography
• Index