BEIJING (AFP) – A senior Chinese general has drawn lessons from the Ukraine crisis and urged greater integration of new capabilities, including artificial intelligence, with conventional warfare tactics ahead of a confrontation with the West.
A new genre of hybrid warfare has emerged from the Ukraine conflict, which interweaves “political warfare, financial warfare, technological warfare, cyberwarfare and cognitive warfare,” according to General Wang Haijiang, commander of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Western Command.
In the name of national security, China’s efforts to prepare the country for security challenges are undiminished, despite the economic slowdown and COVID-19, to fend off Western threats. Defense spending is expected to increase for the eighth straight year in 2023.
The size and scope of China’s military preparations are closely watched not only by Western powers, but also by China’s neighbors and democratic Taiwan, which China claims is its own. “Regional conflicts and unrest are frequent now and in the future, and global problems have intensified, and the world has entered a new stage of turmoil and change,” Wang wrote in the Study Times.
“Various ‘black swan’ and ‘grey rhino’ events could occur at any time, especially due to containment, siege, segregation, repression and military threats by some Western countries,” he continued.
Despite hundreds of billions of dollars being poured into defense spending, China’s military has not recently experienced a violent war, last having a brief military clash with Vietnam in 1979.
Wang wrote that maintaining national security requires the ability to win.
The People’s Liberation Army’s combat readiness in a virtual war has been the focus in recent months as China unleashes its military might against Taiwan and plunges into potential conflict with the United States. Washington has a policy of “strategic ambiguity” over whether to intervene to defend Taiwan, but it is legally required to provide the island with means of self-defense.
Wang said China will seek new military advantages by building capabilities in areas such as artificial intelligence, information networks and aerospace.
The People’s Liberation Army Daily, in another rare January review of the lessons of the Ukraine war, pointed to Russia’s military shortcomings, including the need to improve its “situational awareness” on the battlefield.
