The Chinese dictatorship, led since 2013 by Xi Jinping, has improved its technological capacity in recent years, aiming for greater information collection and surveillance, especially of countries considered a threat to Beijing.
The newest step in this direction is the creation of a new sector in the Army dedicated to developing the country’s cyber capabilities: the Information Support Force. The Chinese regime has invested millions of dollars in the area to ensure more “security” in modern warfare.
Xi told the state news agency last month Xinhua that the initiative was an “important” decision taken within the scope of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), in order to strengthen the Armed Forces. In the dictator’s view, the area is considered the new “strategic arm of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)”.
The sector is part of a major military restructuring in more than a decade in China, amid increasing regional tensions in the world. The Information Support Force will report directly to the Central Military Commission, the body at the top of the military chain of command headed by Xi.
Ministry of Defense spokesman Wu Qian also stressed that the new cyber force represents “a strategic step towards establishing a new system of services and weapons and improving the structure of the modern military force [da China]”.
The Information Support Force will be led by the main generals of the now-defunct Strategic Support Force (SSF), which has been responsible for the strategic part of the Army’s space, cyber, electronic and psychological warfare since 2015: the deputy commander, Bi Yi, who has been named commander of the new unit, and Li Wei, the political commissar of the former SSF, will assume the same role in the Information Support Force.
The announcement comes at the same time as reports from the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand are increasing about Beijing carrying out “malicious” cyber activities. At the beginning of the month, the British government accused the Chinese of being behind a case of hacking personal data of several members of the Armed Forces, including names and bank account details.
At the time, Xi’s dictatorship refuted the accusations and described them as “unfounded”, while reaffirming its commitment to the “international fight against cyber threats”.
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