Publications

Since 2012, the Chinese government under Chairman Xi Jinping has taken steps to assume the role of a global power, including a sweeping modernizing of its military, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), in order to transform it into a force capable of projecting power. Notably, in 2015, the PLA formed the Strategic Support Force as a separate service, concentrating all of its satellite and network operations forces, including cyber operations forces, into a single, high-profile organization. This policy choice to reorganize the PLA force structure reflects and reinforces the new preeminence of information operations in China’s national security, the majority of which takes place in cyberspace.