China announced the creation of a new cyber defense force within its army, grandly inaugurated by President Xi Jinping and portrayed as contributing to “victory in modern wars.”
This force is a “strategic branch” of the armed forces, Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said on Friday evening.
Although The exact functions of this unit have not been described in detailWu Qiang said he will bear “a great responsibility” in “fighting and winning modern wars.”
At a ceremony Friday to celebrate the creation of this cyber defense force, Xi Jinping expressed his “heartfelt congratulations.” to the army, state television CCTV said.
Images from the event show the president wearing a khaki suit in the signature style of Chinese communist revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.
Xi” forcibly ordered Follow the orders of the (Communist) Party firmly and ensure that it is completely loyalpure and reliable,” noted the official Xinhua press agency.
Although China’s military is already under the control of the Chinese Communist Party, President Xi Jinping has sought to strengthen that influence since he came to power a decade ago.
In recent decades, Beijing has closed the gap with Western countries in terms of its military capabilities and increased its defense budget in parallel with its strong economic growth.
At the moment, It is the second largest country in the world in defense spendingalthough this is still three times lower than that of the United States, and they have become the main military power in Asia.
This emergency creates distrust in Washington and worries neighboring countries such as Japan and the Philippines, with which there are various territorial disputes.
Also the Asian giant claims sovereignty over the island of Taiwan and maintains a border dispute with India in the Himalayas.
International complaints
For several years now, countries have been liking The US and UK have denounced the infiltration of Chinese hacker groups.
The most notorious case in this regard occurred in July 2023, when a group of cyber spies secretly accessed email accounts of about 25 organizations, including US government accounts.
There have been numerous complaints about hacking attacks against China, and various countries have since called for regulation and punishment These infiltrations have allowed the Asian government to obtain sensitive information and personnel of political actors.
With information from AFP.
ORP