“China and the United States: Hacking Away at Cyber Warfare” by Ting Xu, Asia Pacific Bulletin No. 135,  East-West Center, Washington, D.C., November 1, 2011.

In a provocative essay, Ting Xu makes the important point that both China and the US are turning cyber warfare into a lever to divide the two nations, a means to heighten tension and conflict. Ting thinks this is the wrong approach.

Rather than turn the internet into a new battlefield for superpowers, strategists on both sides should use the issue as a means to bring the two countries together  in an effort to manage a species of violence that neither government truly controls. Ting suggests that it is time to end the mistrust and start chasing miscreants: neither side can afford for this issue to sunder the world’s most important relationship. Equally important, however, is that unless the world’s powers coordinate strategy, tools, and tactics to respond to cyber warfare, eventually it will be used as the ultimate asymmetric weapon against all human institutions.

You may not fully agree, but Ting’s viewpoint is an important addition to the discussion of both cyberwar and Sino-US relations.

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• Is China Feeling Contained? (pekingreview.com)
• Hidden Dragon: The Chinese cyber menace (go.theregister.com)
• Chinese Hackers and Cyber Realpolitik (circleid.com)
• Feds Cite Chinese Cyber Army Capability (informationweek.com)