This paper examines the development and evolution of China’s approach to information warfare amid the intensifying struggle for a new, more just world order.
The essence of information warfare has remained virtually unchanged since World War II, but modern technological advances offer increasingly greater opportunities to influence the opposing side, a key global trend in its evolution. Currently, the United States and its allies have reached the peak of intensity in information warfare with Russia, China, and other states opposing Western countries. At the same time, tools for combating such warfare are actively developing, including both socio-humanitarian and digital technologies.
This paper provides a periodization of the evolution of China’s approaches to confronting and waging information warfare. Five key periods are identified: the development of approaches (1994-1999), the development of information security measures (2000-2013), the strengthening of the legal framework and the development of international information security initiatives (2013-2018), information warfare during the trade war with the US and the pandemic (2019-2022), and the current stage of the global confrontation between the collective West and the Global Majority (2022-present).
Russia and China are strengthening their strategic partnership, striving to create a new, more just world order and jointly acting as an “insurmountable” barrier in the information war between the global West and the “non-West.” China’s leadership strictly controls the information space in the country through censorship and blocking of news websites and social media. These measures limit access to unwanted information, making China more protected from information attacks from the West.