 Cyber Conflict Module 13, Chinese Cyber Background. Once you have completed the readings, lecture, activity, and assessment, you will be able to articulate the four components of a cyber power according to Segal. Describe the Chinese concept of informationization. Welcome to Cyber Conflict Module 13. Thus far, we have looked at issues of cyber conflict with regard to the countries of Russia, North Korea, and Iran. We now turn to the development of China's cyber enterprise. The 1991 Gulf War may have been a seminal event in how China approached cyber strategies. That war initiated the era of net-centric warfare, in which computer and information technology was incorporated into military operations. This allowed commanders to increase their situational awareness of the battlefield, and thus act with greater unity of effort and efficiency. Within a hundred hours of the United States' ground campaign launch, a ceasefire was initiated, and the Iraqi army essentially defeated. Chinese generals watching this war were surprised and intrigued at such a quick victory by the United States. Since technologically, China's military forces were quite comparable to Iraq's. Realizing that the United States might have an intractable advantage, Chinese military planners initiated a series of commissions to investigate how the war ended so rapidly. These commissions ultimately produced several white papers, addressing how China could develop its own high-tech force while minimizing the obvious technological advantages of the United States. One approach that the Chinese implemented to disrupt the US advantage as they concurrently developed their own net-centric capabilities was to embrace asymmetrical warfare. Such a reliance on asymmetrical capabilities was compatible with China's long-standing tradition of using stealth, deception, and indirect approaches to warfare. China also felt that the United States was too dependent on communications technologies, especially with regards to intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, or ISR, and believed that it might exploit this dependence should armed conflict occur. China's previous security posture had focused on fighting a large-scale land war on its own ground against Russian invasion. Less than one year after the end of the Gulf War, however, the Chinese president published a set of military strategic guidelines to modernize the development of its military forces. The new posture focused China on developing more joint and maneuverable forces that could fight small regional wars outside its borders. The new policy also addressed China's underdeveloped technological capability and defined a strategy that would allow the country to fight what it called, quote, local wars under informationalized conditions, end quote. By informationalized, China meant incorporating computer technology into all aspects of society for modernization, and local wars referred to China's assessment that future wars would be fought close to home in a geographically limited area. Seeing how the United States' technological advantage overpowered Iraq's military so rapidly, China's People's Liberation Army leadership determined that future conflicts would demand technology to quickly defeat an enemy and obviate the need for long extended wars. China's concept of fighting local wars under informationized conditions was initially a template to develop the People's Liberation Army into a fighting force that could win high technology wars under modern conditions while using an asymmetric approach. However, as computer technology quickly evolved, the term informationization expanded to capture technologies associated with information superiority, reconnaissance, jamming, networking, space operations and electronic attack. In a 2006 defense white paper, China's president highlighted the country's need to modernize its military forces by using information technology, mandating a series of deadlines for its implementation. His vision was a fully computerized military capable of waging high-tech warfare by 2050, and he highlighted the need of taking a whole-of-government approach to meet this goal. The leadership of the People's Liberation Army developed a concept of operations called Integrated Network Electronic Warfare, which China's military forces could use to integrate new information technologies. These operations also included an offensive component with both computer network operations and electronic warfare capabilities to disrupt an enemy's computer-based systems. These military officials have found the United States' advantages in space technology quite threatening, especially space-based communications and reconnaissance systems that supplement and enable military operations. However, China understands that the United States' reliance on space and cyberspace technology also creates vulnerabilities. This is especially true regarding space-based command and control and ISR resources. China also realizes that the United States relies heavily on information technology to support its logistics infrastructure and that, in general, U.S. military logistics systems operate over the unclassified Internet, creating vulnerability to exploitation. With these vulnerabilities in mind, China will likely develop ways to counter the space and cyberspace advantages of the United States. One possible scenario is development of the ability to disrupt signals between ground-based U.S. command and control systems and space-based assets. Another scenario is development of vectors, allowing malware to be ingested by satellite computer systems such that China could then spoof or incapacitate them. China has also developed kinetic means to disable U.S. satellites, but the country likely will not use these means unless an all-out war ensures, simply because hiding attribution for such techniques is inherently difficult. To successfully exploit the United States' computer systems, China needs a relatively deep understanding of many technical aspects. Thus, China will likely continue sophisticated reconnaissance of our military networks, especially those supporting communication infrastructure. China may also increase network surveillance of Department of Defense contractors who produce and maintain many of our communication satellite systems as China searches for vulnerabilities to be exploited once satellites are operational. Besides space-based command and control and intelligence systems, Chinese military theorists have focused on U.S. logistics systems as a potential vulnerability. As an example, a 2007 book published by a former senior member of the People's Liberation Army identified enemy ISR and logistics networks as primary targets in the event of hostilities. Given that the South China Sea represents the most likely locus of hostilities between the two countries, along with the fact that China lags behind the United States' enable capability, China perceives U.S. logistics systems as an Achilles' heel to be targeted. If U.S. warships cannot be supplied at port or resupplied once underway, China would effectively neutralize U.S. capability. Compounding this problem is the fact that the U.S. Navy has adopted a just-in-time inventory paradigm, leaving little room for error. And if intruders can access systems on land, they may be able to disrupt onboard systems. A previous chief of naval operations highlighted this in noting, quote, Practically all major systems on ships, aircraft, submarines, and unmanned vehicles are networked to some degree. These networked systems, like the majority of the military's logistics infrastructure that operate on an unclassified backbone, create exponential vulnerabilities that become increasingly difficult to guard, as China and other countries develop more sophisticated cyber capabilities. True or false? Informationization is a theoretical concept the Chinese borrowed from North Korean military strategists. The answer is false. According to the readings, which of the following is not one of the four components of a cyber power? A. A country with a large or technologically advanced economy. B. A country that has public institutions that channel the energy and innovation of the private sector. C. A country that has adventurous and rapacious military and intelligence agencies. D. A country that has a highly educated citizenry steeped in democratic values. The answer is D. A country that has a highly educated citizenry steeped in democratic values. The activity for this module asks that using presentation software like PowerPoint or Keynote, build a presentation about China, providing the following information. Note the country's annual gross domestic product GNP from the CIA's World Factbook. Provide interesting facts about the country, including the size of its population, military, industrial production, and agriculture output. Note how many people have access to the Internet. Compare the information to that of Russia. Consider the differences and similarities of the two countries.