When the U.S. Department of Justice indicted five Chinese military generals on cyber espionage charges, many people felt that Washington was just feeling jealous and uneasy about China receiving the Russian President Vladimir Putin and holding the Shanghai CICA Summit.

However, keen observers found that the root of the problem was Edward Snowden's revelations about the PRISM surveillance programs, and the indictment was actually a part of long-term, well-planned competition between the two countries.

When the U.S. government announced the indictment, China responded unusually quickly and decisively. The Chinese government summoned the U.S. ambassador and military attaché to lodge formal protests, suspended the activities of the China-U.S. cyber working group, banned Windows 8 from being installed on government computers, ordered state-owned enterprises to cut ties with U.S. consulting companies, and planned to start security vetting on IT products.

Meanwhile, a Chinese Internet information body released a document entitled the United States' Global Surveillance Record, and confirmed that some PRISM secret surveillance activities were directed against China. According to Bloomberg, Chinese banks were also going to remove high-end servers made by IBM, and replace them with ones from Chinese manufacturers.

All of these measures were seen as China taking revenge. Of them, the suspension of the China-U.S. cyber working group was the most regrettable. As a bilateral dialogue mechanism, it was established at repeated requests by the United States, and was highly valued by Washington. However, it has now been shelved due to Washington's own imprudent activities, and is unlikely to be restored in the future.

The indictment has confused a lot of people in the United States. Some people noticed that there were no technology companies among the victims of the alleged hacking activities from China. They therefore believed the indictment was actually associated with the rising trade frictions between the two countries. The indictment was not a simple dispute over cyber security issues, but based on competition in technology that also concerns the bilateral strategic relationship and trade cooperation.

But no one wants to really destroy the cooperation between the two sides. The U.S. companies involved in the dispute have kept silent, to avoid revenge from China. U.S. technology companies with offices in China began to turn their attention to private Chinese companies. Chinese IT giants, such as Huawei, have never given up hope of entering the U.S. market although they have suffered long-term judicial discrimination and criticism in the media, and were also victims of cyber attacks from the United States.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, it had obtained the White House's consent before indicting the five Chinese military hackers. Since the United States will hold mid-term elections this fall, the Obama administration was eager to gain immediate political benefits instead of accomplish noble things like establishing a new big-power relationship with China, as starting a dispute in the cyber security field could please both the business circle and military industry inside the country.

From what we have seen so far, Washington was close to Beijing's bottom line. Despite frequent high-level communications, China and the United States have had tense relations this year. The two sides were losing mutual trust, as Washington intensified its military alliance in the Asia-Pacific region, interfered in the disputes over territories in the East China Sea and South China Sea, and warned China not to take actions during the Ukraine crisis. All these things made people concerned about a new Cold War between the two countries.

The China-U.S. relationship faces another major challenge. Whether it can be addressed properly depends on the two sides' choices of strategy and specific actions.

The two countries are actually fighting a war in the big data era. The competition will continue and may even escalate. Washington should stop using old methods to solve disputes, or it will finally face the consequences, because China has gained improved technology and has more ways to safeguard its interests. Besides, China is keenly aware that the only way to restrain Washington from carrying out surveillance is to fight it directly.

Cyber security has become a key issue in the China-U.S. relationship. It is more powerful than other areas in provoking hostility between the two sides, and may be the "Achilles' heel" of bilateral relations. The next China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue must address the issue properly. In the long term, it should be the starting point for the two sides to establish strategic mutual trust and seek mutually beneficial cooperation.

The author is a world affairs commentator.

This article was translated by Chen Xia. Its original unabridged version was published in Chinese.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

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