Debate Over Intelligent Warfare and Data Security Draft by MIIT
Issue 18, 14 Feb 2022
I. Military and Warfare
Debate Over Intelligent Warfare
An article in PLA Daily by authors from PLA Army Command College (中国人民解放军陆军指挥学院 Zhōngguó rénmín jiěfàngjūn lùjūn zhǐhuī xuéyuàn) highlights philosophical aspects of debate over intelligent warfare. I might be typecasting here, but reading this article felt like the author is trying to bring out "yin" and "yang" of intelligent warfare (Lao Tzu's quote might also be a reason).
First theme is "somebody" and "nobody" (“有人” 与 “无人”) where author highlights degree of human-machine integration in different stages of evolution of warfare. Physical attributes dominated warfare in earlier era when war were fought using knives, swords, and spears. Human energy was converted into kinetic energy of weapons. Hence, human physical strength played a key role. Use of human intelligence in warfare was limited to speeches and texts outlining strategy. Then came era of mechanised warfare with tanks, artillery, ships, planes , etc. The degree of man machine integration was combination of human skill and weapon's performance and physical capacity of human relegated to a secondary position.
In era of informatized and intelligent warfare, primary transformation is of human intelligence to artificial intelligence and the transformation of internal energy to kinetic energy under intelligent control. To quote from article, "the combination of human and machine is mainly the interactive combination of human intelligence and artificial intelligence. The key to the combination is to improve the level of artificial intelligence and the level of manned and unmanned coordination, so as to give full play to the overall effectiveness of the combat system." (人机结合主要是人类智能与人工智能的信息交互式结合，结合的关键是提高人工智能水平以及有人无人协同水平，以发挥作战系统的整体效能)
Second theme is "tangible" and "intangible" (有形” 与 “无形”) referring to judgement of situation in battlefield. (Like who is weaker and who is stronger). The article states that in the era of intelligence, the war space is gradually expanding to the information domain and cognitive domain. The "tangible" and "intangible" coexist in this evolving space. In intelligent form of warfare, the technology and means of situational awareness on the battlefield are more advanced, the struggle between stealth and anti-stealth is more intense, and it is more difficult for me to focus on the enemy, but the basic principle of concealing the truth and showing the false is always applicable. The evolution of battlespace is evident in author's quote saying, "this discourse has gone beyond the military level of "governance of victory and defeat" and has reached the political and philosophical level of "the source of war" and "the foundation of military use". In the era of intelligence, warfare is increasingly taking on a hybrid form of intertwined military warfare, diplomatic warfare, and trade war. The boundaries between war and peace are blurred, and the judgment of justice and injustice has become complicated." (这一论述已经超越“胜败之政”的军事层次，达到了“战争之源”“用兵之本”的政治和哲学高度。智能化时代，战争越来越呈现军事战与外交战、贸易战等相互交织的混合形态，战争与和平的界限模糊化，正义与非正义的判断复杂化，但邪不胜正的历史规律不会改变)
Third theme is of “Benefits” and “Unprofitables” (有利” 与 “无利”) which delves into scale and trade off of warfare. According to author, in intelligent warfare, there are more diverse combat elements with opposing interests, and the balance of interests is more complicated, but there are always common interests or aspects that are not based on human will. Also, fighting from outside is more beneficial from fighting from inside. In intelligent warfare, the battlefield centre has expanded from platforms to networks, and linear operations have gradually been replaced by non-linear operations. However, there are still distinctions between external and internal lines for a specific combat operation, but the form has expanded from plane to three-dimensional, from tangible to intangible. Lastly, concentrating effectiveness is more beneficial than concentrating forces.
Last theme is “Limited” and “Unlimited” (有限” 与 “无限”) referring to measure of boundaries in warfare. This contradiction is between the limitless nature of war and restriction of the limited material basis of war. The key here to use limited means to achieve advantage over adversary. In intelligent warfare, this can be achieved in numerous ways. For example the authors cite
First, flexible use of new and diverse combat forces, and the implementation of non-linear, non-contact, asymmetric operations and unmanned operations.
Second, focus on superiority of troops, firepower, information, cognition, and even decision-making power.
Third, taking advantage of the first opportunity, use a mixture of military warfare and political warfare, kinetic warfare and information warfare, and carry out bold attacks or active defense.
Fourth, increasing speed and timeliness of combat operations.
Fifth, improve coordination between manned and unmanned operations. Improve multi-domain joint defense in the physical domain, information domain, and cognitive domain. Improve efficiency by network protection, electromagnetic pulse protection, etc.
This article is written like a philosophical discussion rather than military concept. Author quotes a number of ancient and modern strategists like Sun Tzu, Clausewitz, Lao Tzu, Cao Cao, Lanchester etc. I highly recommend reading this article.
Additional Reading:
II. SinoSync
Data Security for Industry and Information Technology
MIIT released a draft on Administration of Data Security for Industry and Information Technology (PDF in Mandarin here) for public solicitation. This is an updated version of the draft released in September 2021. This is not a final version and is floated for public consultation till 21 Feb 2022.
This draft is different from regulations released by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). CAC regulations mandate companies handling user data for more than a million people to undergo a review if they want to list abroad along with other security regulations for cross-border data flow.
What's different from Sept 2021 draft?
This draft gives more power to MIIT over management and transfer of data overseas. As per the latest draft, data processors are not allowed to “provide industrial, telecoms or radio law enforcement agencies abroad with data stored in China without MIIT's approval.” Cocco Feng writes for SCMP that if this version of the draft is accepted, then MIIT will become another powerful actor besides the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) governing cross-border data flow.
Data owners have to report within three months a 30 percent or bigger change of “important or core data” in terms of size or content.
Important or core data here refers to any data that can have an impact on China’s politics, territory, military, economy, technology, internet, ecology, resources and nuclear security, electromagnetics. Electromagnetic data (generated from the operation of telecommunication services) as a part of core data has been added in the updated draft.
The categorization of data is the same as in Sept 2021 draft but some conditions for core data have been tweaked. For example, a requirement that core data cannot be exported has been removed.
General data: Lowe risk. Data with minor impact on public interest, individuals, organizations, or society. Any data that is not categorized as important data and core data is general data. Data with the negligible cost of restoration is also general data.
Important data: Medium Risk. Data which would pose a threat to China's political system, territory, military, economy, culture, society, technology, network, ecology, resources, and nuclear security, as well as data related to national security in important areas such as overseas interests, biology, space, polar regions, deep-sea, artificial intelligence, etc.
Core data: Highest Risk. This data poses the highest risk to China's national and economic interests if compromised.
Updated draft categorizes industry-specific regulations in three categories:
Industrial Data
Telecommunication Data
Wireless Data
The company should appoint a legal representative within an organization who will be directly responsible and accountable for data security.
It seems like Chinese companies are falling in the state's line after a crackdown on the tech sector and multiple regulations. For example, SCMP reported that bosses of major tech companies in China have applauded tech regulations and guidelines initiated by Beijing.
III. Before you go
I co-authored an article on India’s space space strategy with my colleague Aditya Pareek. In this article written for Hindustan Times, we argue for a comprehensive space strategy for India.
Warfare in Digital Era - ATP Conversation with Lt Gen Prakash Menon
Recently, I had conversation with Lt Gen Prakash Menon on evolving nature of warfare with technology. Do listen to this episode and let me know your thoughts.
Takshashila’s Academic Conference
I took a session on China’s Information Warfare in this years’s academic conference. Had an opportunity to interact with brilliant cohort of the GCPP.
Megha Pardhi is a Research Analyst at The Takshashila Institution. She tweets at @pardhimegha21.