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Cited by 183Cybersecurity and Cyber Warfare StudiesCOVID-19, Geopolitics, Technology, MigrationInternational Relations and Foreign Policy

The Impact of China on Cybersecurity: Fiction and Friction

Open access
Lindsay, Jon R.·2015·International Security
DOI 10.1162/isec_a_00189
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Abstract

Exaggerated fears about the paralysis of digital infrastructure and the loss of competitive advantage contribute to a spiral of mistrust in U.S.-China relations. In every category of putative Chinese cyber threat, there are also considerable Chinese vulnerabilities and Western advantages. China has inadvertently degraded the economic efficiency of its networks and exposed them to foreign infiltration by prioritizing political information control over technical cyber defense. Although China also actively infiltrates foreign targets, its ability to absorb stolen data is questionable, especially at the most competitive end of the value chain, where the United States dominates. Similarly, China's military cyber capacity cannot live up to its aggressive doctrinal aspirations, even as its efforts to guide national information technology development create vulnerabilities that more experienced U.S. cyber operators can attack. Outmatched by the West, China is resorting to a strategy of international institutional reform, but it benefits too much from multistakeholder governance to pose a credible alternative. A cyber version of the stability-instability paradox constrains the intensity of cyber interaction in the U.S.-China relationship—and in international relations more broadly—even as lesser irritants continue to proliferate.

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Crossref · 10.1162/isec_a_00189

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  • There is a cyber version of the stability-instability paradox in which cyber attackers keep the costs of attacks below the level at which they would provoke retaliation, excluding retaliation in the cyber realm.

    “He argues that there is a cyber version of the stability-instability paradox.Cyber attackers keep the costs of attacks below the level at which they would provoke retaliation-excluding retaliation in the cyber realm.”

    From Do Emerging Military Technologies Matter for International Politics? (2020) · cites this paper as Lindsay (2015)

  • There is a gap between China's ambitions to threaten critical Western infrastructure during a conflict through cyber attacks and the likely reality.

    “Similarly, Lindsay (2015) points out a gap between China's ambitions to threaten critical Western infrastructure during a conflict through cyber attacks and the likely reality.”

    From Do Emerging Military Technologies Matter for International Politics? (2020) · cites this paper as Lindsay (2015)

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Authors
Lindsay, J. R.
Affiliations
University of California San Diego (US)
Corresponding author
Lindsay, Jon R.
ORCID
Lindsay, Jon R.
Venue
International Security
Publisher
MIT Press - Journals
Published
2015-01
Volume
39
Issue
3
Pages
7-47
ISSN
  • 0162-2889 (ISSN-L)
  • 1531-4804
DOI
10.1162/isec_a_00189
OpenAlex
W2052191465
Cited by
183
References
66
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 3 · 2013: 2
FWCI
65.02
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • International Security (publishedVersion)
  • Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Defense
  • Office of Naval Research (N00014-14-1-0071, N00014)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Cybersecurity and Cyber Warfare Studies
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › COVID-19, Geopolitics, Technology, Migration
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › International Relations and Foreign Policy
Keywords
US-China relations, cybersecurity, information control, military cyber capabilities, data theft, multi-stakeholder governance, stability-instability paradox, digital infrastructure, competitive advantage, information technology policy

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