The People’s Republic of China is already engaged in a hybrid war with the United States, using a coordinated strategy of diplomatic, economic, military, cyber, and information domain attacks.
These efforts aim to further Beijing’s foreign policy objectives, which include displacing the U.S. as the global hegemon and reshaping the international order to benefit China.
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) theory of hybrid warfare is a broad strategy aimed at expanding China’s global influence without direct military conflict. It blends cyberattacks, economic coercion, espionage, disinformation, and military posturing to undermine adversaries like the U.S. and its allies.
This approach aligns with the CCP’s Military-Civil Fusion (MCF) a whole-of-nation approach, leveraging the entire nation’s resources—both civilian and corporate—to boost the power of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and intelligence agencies, such as the Ministry of State Security (MSS), in advancing China’s geopolitical goals.
Through hybrid warfare, Chinese interests are already being advanced within U.S. communities, local governments, and academic institutions.
Programs like the Confucius Institutes, sister city initiatives, academic exchanges, and even tourism are being leveraged by Beijing to gather intelligence, steal technology, and influence U.S. legislation and public opinion in ways that align with China’s objectives.
These efforts aim to subtly shape a more favorable environment for Beijing’s strategic goals without direct confrontation.
According to CCP military theorists, China’s theory of hybrid warfare differs from older models like systems confrontation, which focused on direct competition in military, economic, and political systems.
Instead, hybrid warfare emphasizes enhancing national strength without provoking full-scale military conflict with the U.S.
This strategy is evident in China’s hybrid war for Taiwan, embedded within a larger contest against the U.S. The CCP aims to weaken U.S. influence in Asia and present China as the dominant regional power by undermining U.S. credibility with allies like Japan and the Philippines.
The CCP’s focus on hybrid and information warfare is evident in the creation of the Information Support Force (ISF), which replaced the Strategic Support Force (SSF).
The SSF was a theater command-level organization that centralized the PLA’s operations in space, cyberspace, electronic, and psychological warfare.
The ISF now oversees these areas, including the Network Systems Department (Cyberspace Force), responsible for cyberspace warfare, technical reconnaissance, and electronic and psychological warfare.
Additionally, the Space Systems Department handles military space operations. The PRC continues to develop counterspace capabilities such as anti-satellite missiles, co-orbital satellites, and electronic warfare systems to challenge the space operations of adversaries.
China under Xi Jinping has actively exploited the vulnerabilities of liberal Western societies through hybrid warfare tactics, with Xi emphasizing “combat readiness” in using these tools to achieve China’s global ambitions.
By taking advantage of the openness of Western systems, China destabilizes adversaries without direct military conflict.
A core component of this strategy is information warfare, using disinformation and propaganda to manipulate global opinion. During the COVID-19 pandemic, China deflected blame for the virus’s origins and promoted lockdown measures, severely damaging economies and the social fabric of rival nations.
The U.S. State Department reports that the PRC spends billions annually on foreign information manipulation.
China disseminates false or biased content to create favorable views of the PRC and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), while suppressing any critical information on topics such as Taiwan, human rights, the South China Sea, its domestic economy, and global economic engagement.
More broadly, China aims to shape a global environment where governments, elites, journalists, and civil society are encouraged to support its narratives and avoid criticizing its actions.
According to the FBI, the CCP are using professional networking sites to target individuals with U.S. government security clearances. Chinese intelligence agents create fake profiles, offer seemingly harmless requests, or promise high financial rewards to extract sensitive, non-public information.
China’s hybrid warfare strategy also includes the influence of global platforms like TikTok. Owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company, TikTok is legally obligated to comply with Chinese state interests.
Allegations have surfaced that TikTok collects user data that could be accessed by the Chinese government, leading to bans on its use on government devices in countries like the U.S. and UK.
Additionally, there is suspicion that TikTok’s algorithms are manipulated to promote politically useful narratives, serving as another tool in the CCP’s broader disinformation campaigns. By controlling platforms like TikTok, China can subtly shape public opinion globally, further extending its influence through non-military means.
Cyber warfare plays a crucial role in China’s hybrid warfare strategy. Chinese hackers have executed high-profile cyberattacks against governments, businesses, and critical infrastructure globally.
One prominent example is the 2015 breach of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which compromised the personal data of millions of federal employees.
More recently, in May 2023, a Chinese state-backed hacking group infiltrated the unclassified Microsoft email servers of the U.S. Departments of State and Commerce, demonstrating China’s ongoing ability to steal sensitive information and undermine its adversaries.
In another instance, a group of hackers linked to China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) stole terabytes of data from hundreds of companies.
To put this in perspective, a single terabyte is roughly equivalent to 70 million pages of information.
This massive scale of hacking causes widespread damage, as seen in the Microsoft Exchange hack, where more than 10,000 American companies’ networks were compromised in a single campaign, highlighting the indiscriminate nature of these attacks to achieve their goals.
Beijing is already waging a hybrid war against the U.S., and until the U.S. government fully acknowledges this and takes decisive action to safeguard national security, China will continue to gain the upper hand. The U.S.’s vulnerability will only grow if it fails to respond appropriately.
