April 05, 2018

Careful What You Wish for—Change and Continuity in China’s Cyber Threats (Part 1)

By: Elsa B. Kania

Although there’s been a discernible reduction in the magnitude of Chinese cyber intrusions in the past few years, the threat has been transformed, not diminished. While US diplomacy has helped reshape Chinese cyber activities during this period, the reorganisation and professionalisation of Chinese cyber forces constitute a greater long-term challenge.

In September 2015, then-US President Barack Obama and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping announced:

[N]either country’s government will conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information, with the intent of providing competitive advantages to companies or commercial sectors.

This agreement was initially hailed as a ‘significant step’ despite strong skepticism about its prospects for success. Initially, reports and assessments pointed to a distinct decrease in the operations of Chinese advanced persistent threat (APT) groups, although a range of factors other than US pressure likely accounted for the change.

Read the full article at ASPI

More from CNAS

  • Podcast
    • July 9, 2024
    Quantum Computing in US-China Competition

    A conversation between Bonnie Glaser and Sam Howell discussing the quantum computing, its applications, and its place in US-China competition.PRINT ARTICLEChina Global Podcast...

    By Sam Howell & Bonnie Glaser

  • Reports
    • June 11, 2024
    Catalyzing Crisis

    Executive Summary The arrival of ChatGPT in November 2022 initiated both great excitement and fear around the world about the potential and risks of artificial intelligence (A...

    By Bill Drexel & Caleb Withers

  • Commentary
    • Just Security
    • June 6, 2024
    Open Source AI: The Overlooked National Security Imperative

    Now a global technological superpower, China does not want to repeat the mistakes of its past and is actively positioning itself to be the world’s AI leader....

    By Keegan McBride

  • Commentary
    • The Washington Post
    • May 30, 2024
    To Win the Chip War, the U.S. Must Prioritize Revolutionary Research

    Taking big bets on moonshot technologies is the only approach that can sustain Moore’s law and guarantee that the United States continues to lead in the technologies of tomorr...

    By Jordan Schneider, Arrian Ebrahimi & Chris Miller

View All Reports View All Articles & Multimedia