Citation:
Date Presented:
February 4Abstract:
This examination of the evolution of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s strategic thinking on information warfare and cyber warfare between the late 1990s and the present reveals not only a relatively high degree of consistency between the thinking of early information warfare theorists and their contemporaries in certain areas, but also substantive changes in the PLA’s current approach to information operations and “cyber military struggle.” In particular, the PLA’s conceptualization of cyber reconnaissance, attack, and defense as integrated; emphasis on civil-military integration, including the mobilization of non-military cyber forces; and offense-oriented approach to cyber deterrence constitute highly distinctive elements of Chinese strategy. This assessment of the relative validity of the alternative explanations—including a process of ideational diffusion, reactivity to shifting US strategy in the context of a nascent security dilemma, and the influence of traditional strategic concepts, such as “people’s warfare”—associated with notable changes and continuities offers new insights on the underlying dynamics influencing the PLA’s strategic thinking on and operational approach to cyber warfare, within the context of its strategy for information operations and prioritization of winning future “informationized” local wars.