Do cyberwars really keep us from fighting?

With China and the US it's not all-out war, but it's not peace either. Google's claim that it was attacked by Chinese hackers is just the tip of the iceberg, as the US claims its military, energy and other vital interests are being targeted. China says the same about the US. It would be surprising if it wasn't so.

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In some sense it would be crazy not to take advantage of a computer and Internet access to "peacefully" advance our own interests, even if this involved lying, stealing and destroying in cyber space. The military, economic and national advantages are immense. What this means is that both private and nationally driven skirmishes have increased and more funds being poured into cyber attacks and defense. Cyber space is being weaponized.

On his recent visit to Beijing, Leon Panetta, the US defense secretary said he brought up cyber attacks at every meeting and all he got was promises there would be further talks about the issue.

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In reality, talks have been going on for some time, under the auspices of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, and Center for Strategic and International Studies. Since 2009, the two bodies have held six meetings on so-called Sino-US Cybersecurity Dialogue.

The latest, in June, reported some areas of general agreement, like the risk of third-party actors such as terrorists. There were also unresolved issues, like "no first-use" and rules of armed conflict as they relate to cyberspace. The outcome was scheduling more talks.

"To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war," as Winston Churchill once put it. So, perhaps we should be grateful that Iran and the US are just battling each other by computer proxy, like a game of Mortal Kombat; that China and the US are just fencing and not putting each other to the sword.

The thinking here is that it is better to have virtual wars rather than real ones, that cyber weapons can be relied upon to stop nations from launching nuclear weapons.

At which point it sounds like Dr Strangelove again.

Contact the writer at julesquartly@chinadaily.com.cn.