The best way to counter the threat of a cyber attack by China is to facilitate that country's peaceful rise as a world power, an elite group drawn from Canberra's defence and national security community was told yesterday.
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US Centre for Strategic and International Studies analyst Jim Lewis told a Lowy Institute breakfast at the National Gallery: ''The big issue for me when it comes to regional stability and the [malevolent] use of cyber techniques is how we accommodate China.''
Mr Lewis, who has written a paper on strategic cyber competition in Asia for Lowy, said the US pivot to the Pacific had sent an unfortunate message at a sensitive time.
''Our diplomacy isn't quite as successful as might help - like announcing we're moving most of our fleet assets to the Pacific,'' he said. ''You can see how the Chinese might misinterpret that.
''The issue for all countries is how do we accommodate this immense power that has emerged in the East.
''There are lots of problems - North Korea has been pursuing cyber attack capabilities for about 15 years and both nations [North Korea and China] have similar capabilities - but the fundamental issue involves China.''
He said US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was mistaken when she told the Shangri La dialogue at the weekend relations between China and the US ''are unparalleled because never before has an old power been able to accommodate a new, rising power and incorporate them into a stable [international] framework''.
''Actually the relationship is not unique,'' Mr Lewis said by video link. ''The classic example is the US and Great Britain. The ability of the US and Britain to work together; to avoid war [and] to set up institutions was really one of the great successes of the 20th century.''
That does not mean it would be easy, however. China was emerging from ''decades of paranoia'' and genuinely feared an attempt at containment by the US.
''The Chinese are cognisant of their [material] success,'' he said. ''They are also a little more nervous than they were six months ago.
''They have asked the fundamental question [about their relationship with the West] and it is this - you want us to come into this international order and you want us to accept the rules of the game - but why shouldn't we change the rules to benefit China? Why should we accept what we have inherited?''
He said the threat of ''hacktivists'' and groups such as Anonymous tended to be overrated but warned nobody knew what the future held. Nations should be held accountable for cyber attacks launched by non-state actors within their boundaries.
Non state-based cyber threats were real, increasingly sophisticated and had the potential to disrupt civil and military infrastructure. These capabilities were being pursued by Jihadists and anarchist groups.
