Cyber capabilities have been a crucial part of China’s rise in international politics, where cyber espionage have received the most attention so far. These hacks have aided Chinese industry as well as technological development in key areas of military and civilian use. With the roll-out of the fifth generation of mobile telecommunications (5G), Chinese Huawei is set to gain a leading position in the global market for 5G and may install these networks across the globe, despite concerns that these instalments enable espionage. Liberal democracies have taken different approaches to Huawei. While Australia has imposed an all-out ban on the telecoms giant, the EU has so far put forward relatively permissive guidelines and will conduct a security review this year.
Monday May 20th Stockholm Free World Forum hosted a discussion on Chinese cyber capabilities with Tom Uren and Danielle Cave, both from the Australia Strategic Policy Institute, to discuss these challenges . The seminar was moderated by SFWF’s director Oscar Jonsson.