The United States and China have not had a very strong relationship in recent years. Relations between the U.S. and China have been strained because of strong differences in government structure, human rights violations and of currency manipulation. While all of these factors are reasons for potential conflict, the most dominant issue between the two countries at the moment is the threat of cyber-attacks on both sides.
The U.S. has accused China of several hacks, including “stealing intellectual property and business-sensitive information from U.S. companies,” according to the BBC. Meanwhile, China claims, “It is the U.S. that is the greatest problem because of the way it uses its dominant position to control the internet and facilitate its preferred forms of espionage.”
Within the last week, American officials have accused China of cyber-espionage. China’s president, Xi Jinping, has denied this activity. President Obama issued a statement saying, “There comes a point at which we consider this a core national security threat… we can choose to make this an area of competition, which I guarantee you we’ll win if we have to,” according to BBC.
We The Threefold believe that the U.S. should actively pursue better relations with China. Though this may seem counterintuitive with everything that is occurring, this is the best option.
We The Threefold believe that we should use the method of international relations that was used during the Nixon administration. The idea his administration espoused was, “The government of the People’s Republic of China and the government of the United States have had great differences. We will have differences in the future. But what we must do is to find a way to see that we can have differences without being enemies in war,” according to the BBC.
The U.S. and China will never see eye to eye on everything, or most things for that matter. However, it is important that we as a nation work to minimize conflict and benefit from each other’s differences.
We can start by establishing clear accountability for cyber-espionage. Both nations should work to improve secure technology so that it is not as easy for information to be hacked. The two countries need to collaborate in order to create a clear agreement as to what is acceptable for cyber security.