Research On The International Law Of Cyber Warfare In Tallinn Manual

Cyber warfare is a forefront issue in the field of international law research. By comparing the opinions of scholars from different countries, the author of this dissertation finds that it is disputed among the scholars whether the present international law is fully applicable to the cyber warfare. The Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare(hereinafter referred to as "Tallinn Manual"), prepared by the Internaitonal Group of Experts at the Invitation of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence(hereinafter referred to as "Expert Group"), is claimed to be the first code on cyber warfare which applys the present international law. The author of this dissertation however, is of the opinion that Tallinn Manual, created a considerable amount of new rules on key issues, in contrast to applying present international law to cyber warfare as itself claims to be. With respect to the issues such as natioanl sovereignty, liability, use of force and self-defense in cyber space, the Expert Group has made very detailed analysis. Such analysis however, could not completely eliminate the obstables in applying the basic concepts of international law to address the new problems and characteristics of cyber warfare in the context of cyber space. The author of this dissertation is of the opinion that, with regard to application of armed conflict law to cyber warfare, the most contribution made by the Tallinn Manual is that it combs the applicaiton of international humanitarian law to cyber actions. On the issue of China’s legal countermeasure on cyber warfare, this dissertation proposes the following ideas:(1) China should insist on self-defense as always in cyber space, and take responsibility in accordance with Charter of the United Nations and the Geneva convention and its additional protocol;(2) China should actively carry out legal battle in cyber warfare, the army should actively perform their legal responsibilities in cyberspace, to fight for the legal advantages, political initiatives and military victories;(3) China should pay attention to the domestic legislation in cyber security to strengthen the legal protection of cyber infrastructure, to clear national legal subject and private subject in cyberspace;(4) China should actively participate in the development of international law relating to cyber warfare, to fight for aposition in the forefront issue.