Several times already, the Chinese "cyber army" has broken into the US Department of Defense computer systems.
Earlier this year, Germany claimed that Chinese hackers had infected its government computers with spyware.
Attacks by Chinese hackers are far from rare, but the Chinese cyber army is more than just a few lone hackers.
In 1999, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) officially established its cyber army, which has been constantly expanding. Its cyber army is part of the regular organization of the PLA, and "cyber warfare" is part of China's "asymmetric warfare" and "unlimited war" strategies. Currently, its main activities are interfering with or hacking into the computer systems of other countries and infecting them with computer viruses.
As early as the turn of the millennium, the US Department of Defense issued a warning that China had the ability to hack into civilian and military computer systems that didn't have sufficient protection. Its report this year Military Power of the People's Republic of China, addressed the issue of the Chinese cyber army developing viruses to attack computer networks. US Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Richard Lawless urged Congress in June to guard against underestimating the power of Chinese cyber attacks.
However, the cyber army's invasions have been limited to some non-classified Web pages, causing a "denial of service" server overload by bombarding Web sites with requests for data, or changing images on a Web site. Chinese hackers have never actually hacked into important, classified systems. It is especially difficult to gain access to the classified parts of the US Defense Department or other military systems.
Apart from that, China is facing many difficulties in developing its cyber army. It is reliant on imports for most of its computer hardware and software. More than 90 percent of the computer operating system used by China's government and military is imported from the US. The overall security of China's informatics and Internet is lacking and it does not have security controls for imported technology and equipment. Also, economic relations between China and the US are becoming more entertwined, so if the cyber army were to wage war on the US economy, it would easily create problems for China. None of these factors are beneficial to the development of China's cyber warfare.
Nevertheless, we cannot assess cyber warfare from a traditional military point of view, as a technical or conceptual breakthrough could eradicate the advantage that the US and European countries have in information warfare, and this is something that many people with insight into the situation are worried about. It is by now undisputed that China's cyber army is growing in strength. We will have to be very careful.
Cheng Ta-chen is an independent defense analyst.
Translated by Anna Stiggelbout
There is much evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is sending soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and is learning lessons for a future war against Taiwan. Until now, the CCP has claimed that they have not sent PLA personnel to support Russian aggression. On 18 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy announced that the CCP is supplying war supplies such as gunpowder, artillery, and weapons subcomponents to Russia. When Zelinskiy announced on 9 April that the Ukrainian Army had captured two Chinese nationals fighting with Russians on the front line with details
On a quiet lane in Taipei’s central Daan District (大安), an otherwise unremarkable high-rise is marked by a police guard and a tawdry A4 printout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicating an “embassy area.” Keen observers would see the emblem of the Holy See, one of Taiwan’s 12 so-called “diplomatic allies.” Unlike Taipei’s other embassies and quasi-consulates, no national flag flies there, nor is there a plaque indicating what country’s embassy this is. Visitors hoping to sign a condolence book for the late Pope Francis would instead have to visit the Italian Trade Office, adjacent to Taipei 101. The death of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), joined by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), held a protest on Saturday on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei. They were essentially standing for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is anxious about the mass recall campaign against KMT legislators. President William Lai (賴清德) said that if the opposition parties truly wanted to fight dictatorship, they should do so in Tiananmen Square — and at the very least, refrain from groveling to Chinese officials during their visits to China, alluding to meetings between KMT members and Chinese authorities. Now that China has been defined as a foreign hostile force,
On April 19, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) gave a public speech, his first in about 17 years. During the address at the Ketagalan Institute in Taipei, Chen’s words were vague and his tone was sour. He said that democracy should not be used as an echo chamber for a single politician, that people must be tolerant of other views, that the president should not act as a dictator and that the judiciary should not get involved in politics. He then went on to say that others with different opinions should not be criticized as “XX fellow travelers,” in reference to
RSS