The United States and China will negotiate a cyber arms deal during Chinese President Xi’s visit to Washington this week, reports The New York Times. According to the article, officials involved in the talks told The New York Times that the deal will most likely include a commitment by each party to “be the first to use cyberweapons” to take down the other’s critical infrastructure during peacetime.
Another source within the Obama administration, however, told The New York Times that the resulting agreement will not likely include an explicit prohibition on attacking critical infrastructure. Instead, the agreement will likely be a general acceptance of the code of conduct in cyberspace developed by a United Nations working group, the article reported. The UN cyber norms report include the principle of refraining from condoning or conducting cyber activity that intentionally damages or otherwise impairs the use and operation of critical infrastructure that provide services to the public. The UN report, however, does not speak specifically to the use of cyber tools to steal intellectual property to benefit national companies. Accordingly, the agreement will not likely address the use of cyber tools for the theft of intellectual property, the activity that makes up the bulk of China’s conduct in cyberspace, according to The New York Times.
Entering into a bilateral deal with China concerning conduct in cyberspace is a slight depart from the Obama administration’s cybersecurity foreign policy. The 2009 Cyberspace Policy Review state that the US government should seek both “bilateral and multilateral arrangements that improve cybersecurity” for the protection of US interests. However, according to the White House website, the current US cybersecurity policy favors the multi-stakeholder approach to internet governance. The US will “oppose efforts to … eliminate the multi-stakeholder approach to internet governance,” the White House website states.
Additionally, members of the administration have reiterated the administration’s support of the multi-stakeholder approach. In fact, in December 2013, Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda, Deputy Assistant Secretary and US Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy at the US Department of Secretary, expressed support for the multi-stakeholder approach, and announced that the US “welcomes all discussion of enhanced multi-stakeholder cooperation.” In April 2014, the US participated in the “Global Multi-stakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance,” a summit hosted by the Brazilian government. There, the US stated that the summit could advance and promote a “more inclusive structure” if: 1) “the agenda is developed in a truly multi-stakeholder fashion; 2) participation at the meeting is broad and inclusive; and 3) any follow on activity is guided by, and ultimately supportive of, the multi-stakeholder system rather than an intergovernmental mechanism of centrally imposed regulation or mandates.” More recently, Julie Zeller, the Senior Deputy Coordinator for International Communications & Information Policy at the US State Department, stated that although it has made “progress in advancing the multi-stakeholder approach to internet governance,” some countries continue to promote a system where “governments have the sole or dominant voice.” Ms. Zeller made the remark in July 2015, at The Marvin Center at George Washington University.
Clearly, the Obama administration favors a multi-stakeholder approach to internet governance which brings together businesses, civil society, non-governmental organizations, governments, and academia, over a system where governments are the primary rule makers. A bilateral cyber deal with China, however, will be a move in the opposite direction.
Leave a Reply