Correspondence: Debating the Chinese Cyber Threat
Name
Brenner-Debating the Chinese.pdf
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44.4 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Brenner, Joel
Lindsay, Jon R.
Date Issued
August 2015
Journal
International Security
Publisher
MIT Press
Citation
Brenner, Joel, and Jon R. Lindsay. “Correspondence: Debating the Chinese Cyber Threat.” International Security 40, no. 1 (July 2015): 191–195. © 2015 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Version
Final published version
Abstract
In “The Impact of China on Cybersecurity: Fiction and Friction,” Jon Lindsay asserts that the threat of Chinese cyber operations, though “relentlessly irritating,” is greatly exaggerated; that China has more to fear from U.S. cyber operations than the United States does from China; and that U.S.-China relations are reasonably stable.1 He claims that “[o]verlap across political, intelligence, military, and institutional threat narratives … can lead to theoretical confusion” (p. 44). In focusing almost exclusively on military-to-military operations, however, where he persuasively argues that the United States retains a significant qualitative advantage, Lindsay underemphasizes the significance of vulnerabilities in U.S. civilian networks to the exercise of national power, and he draws broad conclusions that have doubtful application in circumstances short of a full-out armed conflict with China. In addition, he does not discuss subthreshold conflicts that characterize, and are likely to continue to characterize, this symbiotic but strife-ridden relationship.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for International Studies
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_c_00208
