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1. Well structured, researched and argued piece of work.
   The authors, an ensemble cast of academics, industry practitioners, and subject matter experts have painstakingly examined the multidimensional nature of Chinese activities in cyberspace, both domestically and internationally.China, in less than 40 years has undertaken dramatic economic reform and growth to become the world’s second-largest economy. With its rise, China has dramatically shaped and influenced the world economic balance and political landscape, and one can only expect some revisionism from a power rising as spectacularly as China.Nowhere is this revisionism more apparent than in the area of cyberspace where the Chinese are clearly squaring off against the hegemony of the United States in this highly strategic and politically charged domain.A key theme that appears to repeat itself in this book as in other writings on the Chinese intelligence apparatus is its focus on controlling the ‘people’ for the goal of maintaining the power of the Chinese Communist Party with an emphasis on combating the ‘three evils’ of separatism, terrorism, and religious extremists. This focus does seem somewhat disproportionate to that of developed western democracies whose intelligence apparatus are less concerned with controlling the ‘people’ but rather about International Relations (IR), military secrets and defence against both domestic and foreign terrorists.Beyond the ‘three evils’, China has invested heavily in cyber espionage to aid its economic and military development. An interesting observation is an asymmetrical vulnerability that exists between China and the West. As one of the authors Nigel Inkster aptly phrases it, “there is much that China wishes to steal from the West but little that the West wants to steal from China, with much of the West needs in the areas of political and military secrets” (p46).The crux of the charge against from mainstream foreign media and commentators is the proposition that China conducts cyber espionage with the view of commercial gain (unlike its western counterparts), yet the authors offer a compelling assessment and view that these claims are somewhat exaggerated.Their argument is based mainly on the inefficiencies of the intelligence-to-innovation process and the long-term impact that ‘baking in’ the reliance of foreign S&T intelligence into the innovation system would undermine long-term investment in indigenous research and development and innovation.An area that the authors could have explored deeper was the relationship and use of the ‘Chinese hacker underground’ as a proxy to obtain key industrial secrets for the state as well as non-state sponsored industrial espionage. The author Nigel Inkster raises the question to what degree does the top leadership have a policy grip on the Chinese intelligence community and their activities, and I’m of the opinion that historically it has not.While the authors put forward a strong argument that it is not necessarily a policy of the Chinese government to hack for commercial gain, speculation exists in the public domain that much activity is perhaps happening outside of the remit and control of the administration. As a result, of this non-state sanctioned hacking, China’s image continues to be tarnished, further fuelling the foreign media and assessment of China’s cyber espionage activities.Governance of Cyberspace, challenging the US hegemonyThe section on National Cyber Security Policy is influenced heavily by Chinese authors and commentators, which provides a refreshing perspective on the topic. At the top of the agenda is the subtle but clear message that China sees itself as a victim of the US hegemony in cyberspace and looks to counter this by seeking the management of the main Internet services away from strongly influenced and controlled U.S. entities into the broader international community.The complex topic of human rights, internet censorship (or safety as the Chinese leaders phrase it), and the western lead anti-Chinese sentiment is tackled nicely. However, it would be useful to have seen a stronger Chinese flavour to the assessment and ensuing text.Western nations have most certainly politicised the Internet as a fundamental human right and something that should be free and open. Naturally, the Chinese leadership view this is an attack on their communist ideals, and leverage it to incite nationalistic spirit to counter western ideologies and influence. While this book does not specifically mention China’s policy on cyber sovereignty, it certainly discusses various machinations of what the doctrine of cyber sovereignty entails.Internet CensorshipThe different political ideologies between the Chinese and the Western commentators appear to be most pronounced when viewed through the lens of cyber sovereignty and internet censorship. The Chinese writers seldom depart from the party’s official rhetoric that without Internet safety (censorship) there can be no national security, which loops back to the section earlier on the China’s intelligence apparatus and their focus on the ‘three evils’ and the protection and preservation of the ‘party’.Interestingly, research exists that suggests that the Chinese leadership have allowed more online criticism against the party and regional governments in recent years as can yet are still somewhat cautious and focused on social mobilisation. It is somewhat disappointing that the authors did not look to examine how Chinese netizens themselves perceive their relative freedoms on the Internet. Especially how the central government has loosened its control in certain areas and allowed netizens to voice discontent at certain events, for example, the Wenzhou train crash in 2011.Overall, an excellent reference and assessment of China’s activities in cyberspace. That said, several topic areas and lines of enquiry could benefit from further research such as non-state sponsored activities in the field of industrial espionage and what are the likely scenarios and consequences of the political toiling between China and the West in the governance of cyberspace.

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2. Five Stars
   Love it, super informative and great collection of articles by various authors with multiple analytical angles.

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3. Well Done!
   An exceptionally well reserached and written book on China and cyber security

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4. Five Stars
   Just what my friend was looking for

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5. It is the most informative book about the policy forming …
   It is the most informative book about the policy forming, action taking and China military organization in charge of cyber war. Most of material is from various sources in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan…etc. Some of analytic comments are still meaningful for those who will study the thought and ideology of senior officials in China government.

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6. Excelente referência para os interessados em estudar a China, tema fundamental nos dias de hoje e, em especial, para o futuro.

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7. Must read Cyber Security students or professional, however, others outside this group can also read this material. I seems balance with material from both China and the United States.

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8. Nothing really new, well written and gives a wider perspective of the relations between China and the rest of the world.

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