China creates a new Information Support Force and scraps the Strategic Support Force in a ‘major’ shake-up

Global, Networks/Cyber, Space

Digital concept of the central computer processor (Getty images)

UPDATED 4/22/2024 at 3:00 PM ET with comments from a Defense Department intelligence official.

SYDNEY – As part of fundamental military reforms implemented in 2015, China brought together most of the People’s Liberation Army’s space, cyber, electronic and psychological warfare capabilities into what was called the Strategic Support Force.

Now, almost a decade later, China’s Ministry of Defense announced it would scrap the SSF and establish a new Information Support Force – a move that PLA spokesman Wu Qian said was “of profound and far-reaching significance for the modernization of the national defense and the armed forces’. forces and effective fulfillment of the missions and tasks of the People’s Army in the new era.”

Wu said the change, announced Friday, “marked an important decision made by the Central Committee (of the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP) and the Central Military Commission (CMC). The CMC is the highest military entity in China and the Central Committee is the party’s nominal governing body.

The SSF had reported to the Central Military Commission (CMC), according to an investigation for the US Institute for National Security Studies.” It headed two branches: the Space Systems Department and the Network Systems Department.

“The (2015) reforms come at a turning point as the PLA seeks to pivot from land-based territorial defense to comprehensive power projection to protect Chinese interests in the ‘strategic frontiers’ of space, cyberspace and the distant seas,” said the INSS. study said.

However, a Singapore-based Chinese military analyst, Chong Ja Ian, told Breaking Defense that the new move signals dissatisfaction with the old command and offers an insight into Beijing’s priorities in preparing for a future battle.

“First, the focus on information operations underlines the importance that the CCP leadership attaches to such activities. Second, the folding of the Strategic Support Force, whose existence was quite short, suggests that CCP leaders are not satisfied with the capabilities and approaches it provided,” said Jong, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore, in an email.

The PLA spokesperson said the Information Support Force is “a brand new strategic branch of the PLA and provides an important basis for the coordinated development and application of the Network Information System,” which seems to indicate a sharp focus on networks – a focus that will US Military Stocks.

A Pentagon intelligence official told reporters today that the “new” force is trying to answer questions like “How do I defend my information and try to bring all that information together almost like an aggregator?”

“Cyberspace forces still have largely the same mission, which is to gather intelligence and then attack computer networks. And then the Aerospace Forces still has some sort of control over space,” the official said. “So for the Chinese, it seems like it’s more about how can I better optimize CMC’s direct control over these key components that we think exist.”

Chong also noted that the establishment of the ISF highlights the extensive changes in the Chinese military in recent years. During those years, of course, a Minister of Defense mysteriously disappeared and a number of senior officers were apparently dismissed for corruption.

“The rapid creation and dissolution of the SSF, the relatively rapid creation of the ISF, along with changes in the PLA leadership in recent years indicate ongoing adjustments in the military. The lack of objection to these changes further underlines Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s undisputed position within the party and the state establishment,” he wrote.

Breaking Defense’s Michael Marrow contributed to this report from Washington DC.