China and Its Embrace of Offensive Cyberespionage

The West is under challenge from the rise of China as a global power. Cyberespionage has enhanced China’s economy, military, and political influence, and it is now a peer rival to the American-led West across land, sea, air, and space. China can conduct cyberespionage on a scale that no other nation can currently match. Its Belt and Road Initiative is a modern-day Silk Route for both overland and maritime trade.Under President Xi Jingpin, China is now much closer to parity in conventional forces should it begin hard-power contestation and enter the realm of ’Thucydides’ Trap’; a belief that a rising power will challenge a hegemon. Chinese cyberespionage is a real long-term challenge to the United States and the West in general. This book discusses what the implications are and what might still be to come.

Dr Kristan Stoddart is an Associate Professor at Swansea University where he is director of the Geopolitical Challenges Research Institute. Previously he was a Reader in the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University. From 2014 to 2017, Kristan was part of a £1.2 million project examining Cyber Security Lifecycles funded by Airbus Group and the Welsh Government. He also was a member of the UK’s Independent Digital Ethics in Policing Panel for around four years through to 2018. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is the author of eight books and many articles and book chapters.