{"id":13101,"date":"2014-03-31T14:15:35","date_gmt":"2014-03-31T03:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=13101"},"modified":"2014-04-05T13:39:44","modified_gmt":"2014-04-05T02:39:44","slug":"tribute-in-us-china-cybersecurity-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/tribute-in-us-china-cybersecurity-relations\/","title":{"rendered":"Tribute in US\u2013China cybersecurity relations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018Hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue.\u2019 \u00a0<\/em>Fran\u00e7ois de La Rochefoucauld<\/p>\n

Documents leaked by Edward Snowden last week appear to show that the National Security Agency (NSA) has secretly tapped into the networks of Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies. Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit in Hague, Presidents Obama and Xi were <\/span>vowing<\/a> to cooperate on cybersecurity. These simultaneous events reveal the contradictory behaviour of major powers when it comes to their relations in cyberspace.<\/span><\/p>\n

China\u2019s Defence Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng <\/span>condemned<\/a> the NSA activity, saying it \u2018fully exposed American hypocrisy\u2019. But playing the blame game won\u2019t work for China; its own cyber espionage capabilities are well documented. Hypocrisy in US\u2013China relations is eroding cooperation at the same time competition is accelerating.<\/span><\/p>\n

Operation \u2018Shotgiant\u2019<\/a>, an apparent NSA backdoor infiltration of the private company Huawei is the most recent example of cyberattacks that are undermining constructive US\u2013China dialogue on cybersecurity. This operation attempted to validate US concerns about Huawei\u2019s links with China\u2019s political and military decision makers, as well as collecting signals intelligence on users of Huawei\u2019s products. The disclosure of this espionage activity is a gift for China\u2019s leaders. Their cyber activities, including those against commercial targets, now seem unashamedly vindicated.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the United States views its attack on Huawei as defensible and unlike China\u2019s operations. \u2018There\u2019s a clear distinction between intelligence activities that have a national security purpose versus intelligence activities that have a commercial purpose,\u2019 said deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes <\/span>during an interview<\/a> to discuss the recent Obama-Xi meet up. For China however, the United States is a <\/span>jackal in monk\u2019s clothing<\/a>. Or, as the Chinese idiom \u2018<\/span>\u8d3c\u558a\u6349\u8d3c<\/a>\u2019 (<\/span>zeihanzhuozei<\/i>) has it: the US is a thief that will call the victim a thief in order to shift the blame.<\/span><\/p>\n

In reality, the line between political and economic cyberattacks is increasingly blurred. There’s little apparent difference between the NSA hack of Huawei in 2007 and say, Operation Aurora, the People\u2019s Liberation Army hack of Google in 2009. Both attacks were by government agencies against private companies. The one putative point of difference is intent. The US attack was motivated by a political objective\u2014to uncover PRC intentions, while the Chinese attack was ostensibly motivated by an economic objective\u2014to steal source code.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, China\u2019s economic growth is itself deeply political. Theft of commercial secrets can be understood in context of domestic development needs, as it can shorten gaps for innovative industries and increase the competitiveness of national companies. Economic growth, brought about by technological competitiveness is crucial to China\u2019s domestic stability and larger strategic rise. So, in effect, both the US and Chinese attacks were politically motivated, and future attacks are likely as long as economic growth remains a national objective.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cybersecurity issues have been at the forefront of meetings between Presidents Obama and Xi since the Sunnylands summit in California last year. But few constructive outcomes have surfaced, despite the establishment of a cybersecurity working group. Cybersecurity continues to be promoted as a major policy priority. In China, President Xi <\/span>announced<\/a> in February that he’s heading a new \u2018leading small group on informatisation and internet security\u2019. This group will give top-down impetus to China\u2019s fractured internet security arena. In the US, the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review emphasised cybersecurity, allocating $5.1 billion to it in the fiscal budget.<\/span><\/p>\n

Efforts by China and the US to develop cyber capabilities in support of their political intentions aren’t alone. Strategic thinking about cyberspace is still a relatively new phenomenon. Across Asia, from <\/span>Manila<\/a> to <\/span>New Delhi<\/a> to <\/span>Seoul<\/a>, military Cyber Commands are emerging. The expansion of capabilities and the political energy given to the issue increases the risk of misadventure, and possibly conflict. More regional dialogue is needed to mitigate the dangers of escalation. Some positive steps have been taken\u2014last week the ASEAN Regional Forum held a workshop on cyber confidence building measures in Kuala Lumpur.<\/span><\/p>\n

Australia also needs to recognise the increasingly adversarial nature of the fifth domain. While the prospect of a future \u2018cyberwar\u2019 is unconvincing, countries seem to be putting aside their previous reservations about offensive operations. China and the US have shown they are serious about using electronic and computer-related information resources to shape their preferences. Australia\u2019s 2013 Defence White Paper indicated the need to <\/span>\u2018exploit cyber power\u2019<\/a> (PDF, p.20) and the next one\u2014likely out in early 2015\u2014should build on that idea.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cyberspace has been <\/span>described<\/a> by Joel Brenner, former senior counsel at the NSA, as a ‘giant masquerade ball’ filled with malicious actors. Information is there for states to engage and exploit. This creates opportunities for some, and vulnerabilities for all. Australia, like the rest of the interconnected world, should be working to develop key defensive <\/span>and<\/i> offensive capabilities while engaging in dialogue to shape norms of behaviour. If hypocrisy really is the tribute vice pays to virtue, we should expect all countries to be paying tribute for some time yet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Simon Hansen is an intern in ASPI\u2019s\u00a0International Cyber Policy Centre<\/a>. Image courtesy of Flickr user ionel POP<\/a>.<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue.\u2019 \u00a0Fran\u00e7ois de La Rochefoucauld Documents leaked by Edward Snowden last week appear to show that the National Security Agency (NSA) has secretly tapped into the networks of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":214,"featured_media":13108,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[52,556,95,649,31],"class_list":["post-13101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-china","tag-confidence-building-measures","tag-cyber-security","tag-nsa","tag-united-states"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTribute in US\u2013China cybersecurity relations | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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