This episode of the China Power Podcast explores how and why China hacks, and the cyber security issues in U.S.-China relations. Of the persistent issues in the U.S.-China relationship, few have caused as much friction as China’s behavior in cyberspace. In 2014, former FBI Director James Comey said, “There are two kinds of big companies in the United States; there are those who’ve been hacked by the Chinese and those who don’t know they’ve been hacked by the Chinese.’’ Chinese hacking led to the Department of Justice indictment of five members of the PLA for cyber-enabled economic espionage in May 2014. The U.S.-China Cyber Agreement, forged during President Xi’s state visit in 2015, was the first step on a long road toward establishing a set of norms in cyberspace.
To help understand how China’s role in cyber security matters, this episode features Samm Sacks, a senior China analyst in Eurasia Group’s Asia practice. Previously, Samm was an analyst at Booz Allen Hamilton and Defense Group Inc. advising the U.S. government and Fortune 500 companies on Chinese science and technology development.