16 June 2024

UNDERSTANDING CHINA'S TAIWAN CYBER STRATEGY


How to succeed at annexation without really fighting

Will the People’s Republic of China (PRC)* invade Taiwan? Many Americans worry an invasion will take place. Business leaders worry, too. In fact, a war over Taiwan is neither inevitable nor looming. But an unconventional risk lurks in the shadows: The PRC has a Taiwan cyber strategy for annexing Taiwan without an invasion. This strategy is in use right now. And it puts global stability at risk. That’s why we wrote a new study on the strategy called How to Succeed at Annexation Without Really Fighting.

Now, the PRC doesn’t see one big Taiwan cyberattack as the way to win. Instead, the strategy calls for using cyber power in a comprehensive way—on political, military, and economic fronts. The aim is to isolate, weaken, and absorb Taiwan in the long run. This is done through spying, stealing data, spreading lies, and beyond. The PRC also targets U.S. critical infrastructure with cyber threats to deter U.S. involvement in the event of a Taiwan crisis.

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