Over the weekend, President Obama
engaged in negotiations with China about creating the first cyber weapons deal
to date. The two world powers are looking to halt cyber attacks on each other’s
"critical infrastructure" during peacetime. Some officials are upset
that more is not being done to prevent other kinds of attacks by China, while
others are upset that the deal limits our own interests too much. In a realists
point of view, both may be true; however, in the case I believe it would be
best to take a more liberal approach. A liberal approach will be more effective
at creating mutually beneficial exchange between the US and China, as well as
protecting other important US interests such as our economics and to protect
our domestic information.
With a cyber weapons deal, the liberal
approach would allow some basic trust to build between the US and China, which
in turn would create a better opportunity for the two powers to benefit from
each other. Although the two are already huge economic partners, there is a
large feeling of distrust between the two because of many suspected cyber
attacks by each side. With a new deal in place, they both would at least be
able to better monitor such attacks and perhaps have to worry less about severe
damage to their infrastructures by the other nation. If the nations were less
worried about defending against attacks, they could focus more on benefiting
from each other economically. The trust and economic benefits that each side
could gain could turn into an even greater relationship between the two powers.
A realist could argue that this deal
could weaken each side against the other, but this is where I see some parts of
realism as out dated. In such an interconnected world as it is today, we cannot
always be looking to tear down, or engage in conflicts with other countries.
Our economics play such a large role in the power of our nation today, that it
would be unwise to sacrifice our economic relationship in order to potentially
make gains militarily. Also, the security gains that the US could pick up from
this deal could secure us more than we could gain from continuing to have open
cyber conflict with China. Therefore, a liberal approach seems to have more
merit in this situation today.
In order for the US to secure this deal,
they should continue with liberal approach. It would be unwise to push to far
and demand too much in order to increase our relative gains, as a realist might
do. In the liberal eye, it appears that it would be better to increase our
interdependence with China, because we can benefit so greatly from it. With
this interdependence, liberals believe that states depend on each other to help
preserve their well beings. The best way for the US and China to do this in
this situation, is to secure this deal, and begin focusing on other matters
that will help them to continue to benefit from each other.
Jon,
ReplyDeleteCan I ask if you think that such a deal is likely? Or maybe I should ask if a significant deal that actually constrains both sides is likely? Why or why not?
I think a deal of this nature is possible, however it may not be likely. I think the fact that both countries have at least begun to communicate about a deal like this shows that they both think that cyber attacks have become detrimental enough to their infrastructure to need a deal like this. Also, I do think it is relatively unlikely that either country would want to restrain itself too much in anyway. On the other hand, even if they were to agree to a deal that tried to restrict some of their movements, I think both countries would just continue to develop new technologies in order to perform more undetectable cyber attacks.
DeleteI agree with your statement about realism being out dated. In my opinion, the only way for all countries to advance in such a highly complex world today is by working together. This cyber weapons deal could help the U.S. and China create better relations. Liberalism does seem to be the best answer with the economics piece. I think that constructivists would also say that this deal, if it works out, could create a "norm" when it comes to cyber weapons. Today, so many things are spread through the internet. The viruses are getting worse and worse and more purposeful to shut down others' databases. This could possibly reach the point of being bad enough that there have to be international laws dictating what is right or wrong since every human depends on their technology to hold everything for them nowadays. I believe that the deal would benefit both states.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing you read about this in an article of some sort. Could you possibly share the link?
DeleteHere is the link to the article -http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/20/world/asia/us-and-china-seek-arms-deal-for-cyberspace.html?_r=0
DeleteI also agree with your constructivist interpretation of this deal creating a "norm" for cyber behavior. I think that on your point of perhaps eventually needing to have international laws to dictate cyber behavior starts with this deal. If they were able to form this deal, it would set a precedent for other nations and organizations like the UN to create deals similar to this one.
I would say that a deal would at least put some responsibility and trust back into China-US relations. The frequent paranoia and disruption on both sides is quickly becoming a political problem and less of an economic issue. It would be unwise to take a purely realist stance on this issue as we gain so much from trading with China to not would actually be detrimental to our economy. I would agree that more liberal actions would only benefit interactions between the US and China.
ReplyDelete