CybersecurityChina says U.S. does not appreciate China’s own vulnerability to cyberattacks

At the seventh annual China-U.S. Internet Industry Forum held on 2-3 December, Lu Wei, minister of China’s Cyberspace Affairs Administration, which manages Internet information in China, urged U.S. officials and the private sector to stop claiming  Chinese cyberespionage against U.S. systems and instead understand China’s Internet information policies. “On this issue, China and the U.S. should increase dialogue and build mutual trust to crack down on crime, attacks and the invasion of privacy on the internet, so as to protect intellectual property together and harshly combat cyber terrorism,” Wei said. The Internet forum launched by Microsoft and the Internet Society of China met in Washington, D.C. to discuss issues pertaining to big data cloud service, Internet connectivity, governance, and its impact on economic development and social benefits.

China Daily points out that China has become the world’s largest Internet market with over four million websites, 600 million Web users, and four of the world’s top ten Internet firms. E-Commerce is expected to reach $2 trillion this year and continue to grow at 30 percent per year. “These achievements are a demonstration of the openness and good governance of China’s Internet industry,” Wei said. The success of China’s Internet market has caught the attention of cybercriminals. A 2012 study by the University of California’s Institute of Global Conflict and Cooperation estimated that the total damage of cyberattacks on e-commerce in China exceeded $852 million, and affected 11.8 million users and 1.1 million websites. Wei points out, however, that roughly half of U.S.-based Qualcomm’s profit comes from China, and half of the new users of Apple products are in China. Additionally, roughly fifty Chinese internet firms are listed in the United States with market capitalization of nearly $500 billion. For these reasons, China and the United States must cooperate in combating cybercrime, Wei said. He added that the disagreements between the United States and China in regards to Internet policy and cybersecurity are the results of growing integration. “It is because of the deep integration, more extensive exchanges and closer contact between the Internet industries of China and the U.S. that our differences are easily put under magnifying glasses and spotlight,” he said.

Amy Chang, a research associate in the Center for a New American Security’s technology and national security programargues that while China’s focus on improving cybersecurity measures may be for economic reasons, the longevity of the Chinese Communist Party is also a reason for its approach on cybersecurity and cyberespionage. Positive economic growth and stability, which is paramount to legitimizing the party in the eyes of the Chinese public, is a goal of industrial economic cyberespionage, which the Obama administration has attributed to hackers employed by the People’s Liberation Army, Chang writes in a recent paper. Harvard University’s Joseph S. Nye Jr., in the same paper, warns that as China becomes more influential in the global cyberspace, the United States must be prepared to confront challenges to Western dominant norms in cybersecurity. “China has been actively promoting a counter-narrative: justifying stringent Internet controls through propaganda, denying involvement or accountability in cyberespionage, and accusing the United States of committing similar actions against China,” Nye wrote.