In: Economics
China's academic discussion of cyber warfare began in the 1990s when it was called "information warfare." Impressed by how the U.S. military benefited from the use of high-tech technology in the Gulf War and subsequent operations in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq China began to realize that there was no way to adequately defend itself without changing the forms of war in which it was conducted. China takes a few steps about cyberspace and its own national security. The first is that in a vacuum, China has not developed its cyber capabilities. Rather, as a response to the evolving cyber warfare strategies and practices of other countries, especially those of the US and Russia, they have developed them. The second is that the views of the Chinese government on cyber warfare are aligned with its military strategy, which is changed depending on the context of national security, domestic situation, and foreign military activities.
Another essential objective is the defense of critical information infrastructure, in common with all states. In all areas, including security, China is increasingly dependent on knowledge networks. While it has a large-scale technology industry and in some it has the ability to compete with the US, most of its core network infrastructure and main software and hardware are supplied by U.S. companies. Apple, Cisco, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, and Qualcomm are the biggest Internet companies in its domestic supply chain.
Heavy reliance on the products of these companies makes it necessary to work towards the growth of the domestic technology industry and its capabilities, making the internal internet infrastructure of the country more stable. It also indicates that China's primary mission in cyberspace is to maintain sensitive areas ' information security, which is primarily defensive and non-destructive. Many have accused the Chinese government and military of cyberattacks in which intellectual property was stolen, including the U.S. government. There are several distinctions to be made clear in this respect.