Chinese Information Warfare: A Phantom Menace or Emerging Threat

Abstract

The author explores what he perceives to be China s pursuit of information warfare (IW) as a method of fighting asymmetric warfare against the United States. He believes the Chinese are seeking ways to adapt IW to their own style of warfare. Paradoxically, he observes that the Chinese have not gleaned their intelligence through espionage, but through careful scrutiny of U.S. IW in practice. The author examines those aspects of IW--PSYOPS, Denial, and Deception--that China believes provides the greatest prospects for victory in a conflict. Not surprisingly, Sun Tzu is interwoven into this emerging theory. Targeting the enemy's nervous system at all levels, that is, his ability to gather and assess information and then transmit orders, provides significant advantages in the prosecution of a campaign. He concludes that the extent of Chinese advances or intent regarding IW is difficult to ascertain given its closed society. Chinese IW may still be nascent, but the menacing intent is there and only vigilance will protect the United States.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 2001
Accession Number
ADA397266

Entities

People

  • Toshi Yoshihara

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Counter WMD
  • Cyber
  • Electronic Warfare
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Command And Control
  • Command And Control Systems
  • Computer Networks
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Electronic Warfare
  • Information Operations
  • Information Systems
  • Information Warfare
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Psychological Operations
  • Reconnaissance Satellites
  • Second World War
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.