Pentagon: Beijing boosts cyberwarfare

By Bill Gertz (Contact) | Thursday, March 26, 2009

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• The military balance of forces across the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait continues to shift in Beijing's favor as some 400,000 troops and more than 1,100 missiles are now deployed near the island Beijing views as a breakaway province.

• Chinese space warfare programs include direct ascent anti-satellite missiles, tested successfully against a satellite in 2007, as well as electronic jammers and laser weapons. China's goal for the space arms is a space shock and awe strike prior to a conflict.

• China's military budget has doubled twice since the 1990s. The latest announced annual defense budget was about $60 billion but the Pentagon estimates actual military spending could be as high as $150 billion.

• China's military is aggressively seeking U.S. weapons technology both legally and illegally. U.S. intelligence officials say China's technology acquisition is a growing threat to national security.

• China's military doctrine views offensive military operations and pre-emptive attacks as defensive. Numerous cases show China's leaders have claimed military preemption as a strategically defensive act. They include intervention in the Korean War and border conflicts against India, the Soviet Union and Vietnam.

The report states that U.S. intelligence analysts assess that China's capability to sustain a major conflict remains limited.

"However, much uncertainty surrounds Chinas future course, particularly regarding how its expanding military power might be used," the report said.

Larry Wortzel, co-chairman of the congressional U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, said the latest report is important for recognizing the Chinese military's ambitions "to be a major military power with global reach" beyond just a conflict over Taiwan.

"The plans to deploy aircraft carriers and the illustrations of the extent of China's anti-access strategies mean that United States forces in the western Pacific must take China's capabilities into account," said Mr. Wortzel, a former military attache in China.

Richard Fisher, a specialist on the China military, said the report contains more detail than in the past on China's emerging power projection strategies and cyber and space warfare development, including linking the effort to its manned space program.

"This year's DoD China military power report should be required reading for those proposing major U.S. military reductions like ending production of the F-22A fifth generation fighter, reducing U.S. carrier battle groups and unilaterally disarming future U.S. space warfare and robust missile defense capabilities," said Mr. Fisher, with the private International Assessment and Strategy Center.

Typically, China criticizes the annual report the day after it is released, claiming its rise as a global power is not hostile. Prior to the release of this year's report, Maj. Gen. Qian Lihua, director of the Chinese Defense Ministry Foreign Affairs Office, warned in a published article that the report would damage U.S.-China military relations.