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China is undergoing its biggest military restructuring in nearly a decade, focusing on technology-driven strategic forces to prepare for modern warfare, as Beijing competes with the United States for military supremacy in a region of heightened geopolitical tensions. carried out.
Last week, in a surprising move, Chinese leader Xi Jinping abolished the Strategic Support Force (SSF). It is a military division created in 2015 to integrate the People’s Liberation Army’s space, cyber, electronic, and psychological warfare capabilities as part of a fundamental overhaul of the nation’s system. army.
Instead, Xi launched the Information Support Corps, which he said is “a brand-new strategic arm of the People’s Liberation Army and an important foundation for the coordinated development and application of network information systems.”
He said at a ceremony last Friday that the new force would play an important role in helping China’s military “fight and win modern wars.”
At a press conference on the same day, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Defense suggested that the SSF would effectively be divided into three units: the Information Support Force, the Aerospace Force, and the Cyberspace Force, and would answer directly to the Central Military Commission. is. An organization that stands at the top of the military command chain led by Mr. Xi.
Under the new structure, the People’s Liberation Army now has four forces: the Army, Navy, Air Force and Rocket Force, as well as three separate units from the SSF and four units, the Joint Logistics Force, said Wu Qian, a ministry spokesperson. It is said that it is configured. .
Xinhua News Agency
Chinese leader Xi Jinping oversees the inauguration of the People’s Liberation Army Intelligence Support Force during a ceremony in Beijing on April 19, 2024.
Chinese military experts say the reorganization strengthens President Xi’s direct control over the People’s Liberation Army’s strategic capabilities and enables it to use AI and other new technologies to prepare for what it calls future “intelligent warfare.” It said it underlines China’s ambition to learn better.
The reorganization follows Mr. Xi’s sweeping corruption purge of the People’s Liberation Army last year, which ensnared powerful generals and led to China’s rapidly expanding nuclear and ballistic missile stockpiles. He shook up the Rocket Army, the elite division he oversaw.
The Intelligence Support Force will be commanded by the now defunct SSF’s top general.
According to the official Xinhua news agency, SSF deputy commander Bi Yi has been appointed commander of the new unit, while SSF political commissar Li Wei will also take on the same role in the intelligence support unit.
There was no mention of a new appointment for SSF commander Zhu Cheng-sheng, who disappeared from public view last year amid a series of military purges and was finally seen at a meeting in late January. The appearance of this aroused speculation.
Longtime PLA observers say the reorganization is not the result of a recent corruption purge, but rather a reflection of the fact that the SSF is not the ideal organizational form for the Chinese military.
“This shows that the SSF was not a satisfactory arrangement. It reduced Xi’s visibility into critical capabilities and did not actually improve coordination between space, cyber and network defense forces. There wasn’t,” said Joel Wuthnow, a senior research fellow at the Pentagon-funded National Defense University.
Before its dissolution, the SSF had two main divisions. The Aerospace Systems Division oversaw the People’s Liberation Army’s space operations and reconnaissance, and the Network Systems Division was responsible for cyber, electronic, and psychological warfare capabilities.
“I think the new structure will give Mr. Xi a better grasp of what is happening in space, cyberspace and network management. “He will be supervised at his level,” Utno said.
This lack of visibility could carry high risks, especially at a time of heightened tensions and deep mistrust between China and the United States.
Last year, the US shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon after it passed over the US mainland. The incident sparked a new crisis between the two countries, and bilateral relations remained frozen for several months.
U.S. intelligence officials said the balloons were part of a broader surveillance program by the Chinese military, but Mr. Xi may not have been aware of the mission.
US President Joe Biden said last June that the Chinese leader did not know about the balloon and was “deeply embarrassed” when it veered off course into US airspace and was shot down.
Xinhua News Agency
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has abolished the People’s Liberation Army’s Strategic Support Force, which he created in 2015.
James Cha, a research fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Relations, said conducting strategic reconnaissance during the balloon incident would have been under the jurisdiction of the SSF’s aerospace systems division.
“That was one of the roles and responsibilities of PLASSF,” he said.
It is unclear whether the balloon incident contributed to President Xi’s decision to disband the SSF.
Wuthnow of the National Defense University said the new intelligence support unit would likely be responsible for communications and network defense for the People’s Liberation Army.
“Getting these things right will be critical to the PLA in future conflicts, and the PLA is paying close attention to these capabilities and perhaps drawing lessons for its own organization from the Ukraine war. ”, referring to Russia’s ongoing invasion. of that neighbor.
“So, of course, [Central Military Commission] The chairman will want to play a more direct role in that area. ”
Cha said the reforms are likely the result of an ongoing review of how the military can better achieve the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s strategic goals.
“I believe the realignment better reflects the importance the PLA has placed on accelerating the development of intelligent warfare brought about by new advances in technology and industry,” he said.
The concept of “intelligent warfare” gained attention in China’s 2019 National Defense White Paper, which emphasized military use of cutting-edge technologies such as AI, quantum information, big data, and cloud computing.
“The landscape of international arms competition is undergoing historic changes. New high-tech military technologies, with information technology at their core, are advancing day by day, with long-range precision, intelligent, stealth or unmanned weapons. The white paper states that the trend is to develop equipment and equipment.
“The evolution of war is accelerating into an information-based war, and an intelligent war is just around the corner.”
The creation of the Information Support Force as a new department under the Central Military Commission also emphasizes the importance of information control in modern warfare.
A commentary in the People’s Liberation Army Daily, the official mouthpiece of the Chinese military, said network information technology is the “biggest variable” in strengthening combat capabilities.
“Modern warfare is a competition between systems and structures, and control of information is equivalent to control of war initiative,” the report said.
The emphasis on information dominance and “intelligent warfare” will also have a significant impact on potential future conflicts in the Taiwan Strait.
The Chinese Communist Party considers Taiwan part of its territory, even though it has never ruled it, and has vowed to rule it by force if necessary.
In the event of a Taiwan conflict, Schaer said, the Intelligence Support Force could “take over as the tip of the spear in support of the People’s Liberation Army’s attempts to control the information space before Beijing’s adversaries do so.” “It’s very sexual,” he said.
