Pentagon: China Views Information Warfare as Key to Countering US Pacific Forces

China views cyber warfare as the essential element to attack U.S. forces operating in the western Pacific, the Defense Department reported in its annual analysis of that country’s military capabilities.

The Pentagon, in its report “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China,” said the People’s Liberation Army views space operations as “the commanding point for the information battlefield.” The report said PLA documents emphasized the necessity of “destroying, damaging and interfering” with an enemy’s reconnaissance and communications satellite systems. If China goes to war, the report said, the country plans to control information, sometimes to seize the initiative and gain an advantage in the early phases of a campaign to achieve air and sea superiority.