Chinese tech firms are increasingly committing to market expansion across Southeast Asia. The development of the Digital Silk Road, especially in the ASEAN region, may provide clues about an emerging Chinese model of economic and political influence over information technology markets.

The Chinese government published its national cyber strategy, which aims to transform it into a strong Internet power within this century. It will have a considerable impact on how China will attempt not only to reshape the architecture information and communication technologies at home, but also how it will position itself in global strategic terms.

Lu Wei, China’s cyber czar has stressed “cyber sovereignty” as China’s official Internet policy. While the recent Sony hack may reveal that China was complicit in the unlawful breach of cyber norms, Gady argues that China and the U.S. need to find less politically sensitive ways to cooperate on mutually beneficial Internet issues, while circumventing their disagreements in other domains.

Hugh Stephens discusses the rationale behind Canada’s recent decision to eliminate its immigrant investor and entrepreneur program, and the impact that it might have on similar US programs. The Canadian government review concluded that the investor immigrant program did not provide a good ROI for Canada. This decision, along with tighter citizenship qualification policies, will likely dampen enthusiasm for future Chinese investor immigration to Canada although other channels remain open. The termination of the Canadian program will cause increased interest in the US EB-5 visa program although absolute numbers of visas granted is unlikely to increase significantly.

After nearly two years at a standstill, Canada’s immigrant investor program, which was flooded by applicants from Mainland China, is set to come to a close with the possibility of reopening sometime in the near future. As Dan Redford explains, the closing of Canada’s program could be a catalyst for EB5 visas, a similar investment program in the United States.

In the past, the global ICT ecosystem was dominated by U.S. companies. Today, that dominance is crumbling. In this view, the commercial success of Huawei and ZTE would be the result of their competitive strategies. The global shift to a multipolar system marks a new era for ICTs and the way that markets emerge.

The United States Department of Defense’s most recent report on the People’s Liberation Army strained already heightened tensions between the US and China due to its focus on cyber security. Lu Jinghua argues the US needs to stop imagining cyber threats and start cooperating with China.

Following General Fang Fenghui’s comments comparing a major cyber attack to a nuclear bomb, Franz-Stefan Gady discusses the consequences of cyber warfare in the twenty-first century.

As cyber attacks on the United States continue, so does the Obama administration’s intensification of cybersecurity measures. While the U.S. attempts to frame China as the scapegoat, Xu Longdi argues that progress cannot be made without the U.S. changing the way it engages China on cybersecurity and strengthening Sino-U.S. cyber relations.