China’s Three Warfares Strategy Mitigates Fallout From Cyber Espionage Activities

• Main Author: Emilio Iasiello
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Henley-Putnam University 2016-06-01
• Series: Journal of Strategic Security
• Subjects: China; Counterintelligence; Cybersecurity; Intelligence collection; International law; National power; Strategy
• Online Access: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/jss/vol9/iss2/4/

China is engaged in longstanding cyber espionage against the U.S., as well as other nations, to collect sensitive public and private information in support of national objectives laid out in its 12th Five Year Plan. Foreign governments citing China’s malfeasance have rebuked these activities, a claim vehemently denied by Beijing. In response, China is leveraging the “Three Warfares” an integrated three-prong information warfare strategy to combat these accusations by leveraging Media, Legal, and Psychological components designed to influence the international community. While the United States has threatened the imposition of economic sanctions, Beijing has successfully parried consequential actions by arresting U.S.-identified hackers, thereby demonstrating its commitment toward preserving a stable and peaceful cyberspace. These interrelated “Three Warfares” disciplines have targeted the cognitive processes of the U.S. leadership, as well as the international public’s perception of China as a global threat, thereby having successfully forestalled the implementation of any effective punitive or economic deterrence strategy to include the imposition of cyber sanctions.