Beijing’s leader Xi Jinping has launched the biggest military restructuring in nearly a decade, focusing on technology-based strategic forces equipped for “modern smart” warfare as China competes with the US for military leadership in – a region full of geopolitical tensions.
In a surprise move last week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping scrapped the Strategic Support Force (SSF), a military branch he created in 2015 to integrate the People’s Army’s space, cyber, electronic and psychological warfare capabilities. Release, as part of a radical overhaul of the armed forces, writes CNN.
In its place, Xi inaugurated the Information Support Force, which he said is “a new strategic arm of the PLA (Chinese Armed Forces) and an essential foundation of the coordinated development and application of the network information system.”
The new force will play an important role in helping the Chinese military “fight and win in modern warfare,” he said at a ceremony last Friday.
At a press conference the same day, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Defense appeared to suggest that the SSF had effectively been split into three units – the Information Support Force, the Aerospace Force and the Cyberspace Force – which would report directly to the Central Military Commission , the body at the top of the military chain of command led by Xi.
China’s military will operate with a new structure
Under the new structure, the PLA now consists of four services — the army, navy, air force and missile force — plus four units: the three units spun off from the SSF and the Joint Logistics Support Force, according to ministry spokesman Wu Qian.
Chinese military experts say the reorganization increases Xi’s direct control over the PLA’s strategic capabilities and underscores China’s ambitions to better master AI and other new technologies to prepare for what it calls the “intelligent war” of the future.
The restructuring follows Xi’s major corruption purge of the PLA last year, which removed powerful generals and shook up the missile force, an elite branch that oversees China’s rapidly growing nuclear and ballistic missile arsenal.
The Information Support Force will be led by top generals from the now defunct SSF.
SSF deputy commander Bi Yi has been named commander of the new unit, while SSF political commissar Li Wei will have the same role in the Information Support Force, according to state news agency Xinhua.
There was no mention of a new appointment for SSF commander Ju Qiansheng, who last year fueled speculation when he disappeared from public view amid a wave of military purges before finally reappearing at a conference in late January.
Xi wants more control of the military
PLA observers familiar with the Chinese military’s problems say the latest reorganization is unlikely to be the result of recent corruption purges, but rather a reflection that the SSF has not been an ideal organizational format for the Chinese military.
“It shows that the SSF was not a satisfactory arrangement. It reduced Xi’s visibility of important functions and did not really improve coordination between space, cyber and network defense forces,” said Joel Wuthnow, a senior research fellow at the Pentagon-funded National Defense University.
Before disbandment, the SSF had two main units – the Department of Aerospace Systems which oversaw the PLA’s space operations and reconnaissance, and the Department of Network Systems tasked with cyber, electronic and psychological warfare capabilities.
“I think the new structure will give Xi better visibility into what’s going on in space, in cyberspace and in management. These functions will now be overseen at his level and not through the Strategic Support Force, which served as an intermediary,” Wuthnow said.
The lack of such visibility could carry great risks, especially during times of heightened tension and deep mistrust between Beijing and Washington.
The crisis caused by the Chinese balloon that entered US airspace
Last year, the US shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon after it crossed the continental United States. The incident caused a new crisis between the two powers and froze bilateral relations for months.
Although US intelligence officials said the balloon was part of an extensive surveillance program run by the Chinese military, 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 “very embarrassed” when it was shot down after hovering in US airspace.
James Char, a researcher at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said conducting strategic reconnaissance during the spy balloon incident would have been the responsibility of the SSF’s Aerospace Systems Department.
“That was one of the roles and responsibilities of PLASSF,” he said.
It is unclear whether the balloon incident contributed to Xi’s decision to disband the SSF.
Wuthnow, of the National Defense University, said the newly created intelligence support force would likely take over leadership of the defense communications and network.
“Getting these things right is of immense importance to the PLA in any future conflict and they have paid close attention to these functions and probably learned lessons for their own organization from the war in Ukraine,” he said, referring to the ongoing invasion of Russia.
“So it makes sense as the president [Comisiei Militare Centrale] to want to play a more direct role in this field”, he emphasized.
What does the concept of “modern intelligent warfare” mean?
The latest change is likely the result of an ongoing review of how the military can better meet the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s strategic goals, according to Char.
“I suppose the reorganization better reflects the importance the PLA has placed on accelerating the development of intelligent warfare” brought on by a new round of technological and industrial progress, he said.
The concept of “smart warfare of the future” drew attention in a 2019 Chinese defense white paper that highlighted the military application of cutting-edge technologies such as AI, quantum information, big data and cloud computing.
“The landscape of international military competition is undergoing historic changes. New military technologies, with information technology as the core, are advancing day by day, and there is a prevailing trend to develop precision, intelligent or unmanned weapons and equipment,” the white paper said.
“Warfare is accelerating its evolution as a form of information warfare, and smart warfare is on the horizon.”
The creation of the Information Support Force as a new branch directly under the Central Military Commission also underscores the importance of information dominance in modern warfare.
The Chinese military’s official spokesman described information technology as the “biggest variable” in improving combat capability.
“Modern wars are contests between systems and structures, where control of information equals control of the initiative in war,” he said.
The emphasis on informational dominance and “smart warfare” also has significant implications for any potential future conflict in the Taiwan Strait.
The Chinese Communist Party sees Taiwan as part of its territory, despite never having controlled it, and has vowed to take control of the island by force if necessary.
Char said that in the event of a conflict in Taiwan, the Information Support Force “will likely take the lead in supporting the PLA’s attempts to dominate the information space before Beijing’s adversaries can do so.”
Publisher: MI
Tags: reorganizing military Beijing leader control strategies modern smart war CNN
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