CHINA’S MILITARY OVERHAUL: XI UNVEILS STRATEGIC SHIFT TO ENSURE VICTORY IN FUTURE CONFLICTS

China has unveiled its most significant military restructuring in nearly ten years, prioritizing technology-driven strategic forces geared for modern warfare as it competes with the United States for military dominance in a region marked by geopolitical tensions.

In a surprise move, Chinese leader Xi Jinping dissolved the Strategic Support Force (SSF), a military branch he established in 2015 to integrate the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) space, cyber, electronic, and psychological warfare capabilities, as part of a wide-ranging overhaul of the armed forces.

According to CNN’s news story Xi replaced the SSF with the Information Support Force, which he described as “a brand-new strategic arm of the PLA and a key element in the coordinated development and application of the network information system.”

Speaking at a ceremony last Friday, Xi emphasized the new force’s importance in enabling the Chinese military to “fight and win in modern warfare.”

During a news conference on the same day, a spokesperson for China’s Defense Ministry hinted that the SSF was effectively divided into three units—the Information Support Force, the Aerospace Force, and the Cyberspace Force—all of which will report directly to the Central Military Commission, the top body in the military chain of command chaired by Xi.

Under this new structure, the PLA now consists of four services—the army, navy, air force, and rocket force—alongside four branches: the three units formed from the SSF and the Joint Logistic Support Force, according to ministry spokesperson Wu Qian.

Experts on the Chinese military believe this reorganization enhances Xi’s direct control over the PLA’s strategic capabilities and underscores China’s ambitions to better leverage AI and other new technologies to prepare for what it terms “intelligentized warfare” in the future.

The restructuring follows Xi’s extensive anti-corruption campaign within the PLA last year, which implicated powerful generals and caused a shake-up in the rocket force, an elite branch overseeing China’s expanding arsenal of nuclear and ballistic missiles.

The Information Support Force will be led by top generals from the now-defunct SSF. Bi Yi, former SSF deputy commander, was appointed commander of the new unit, while Li Wei, the SSF’s former political commissar, will assume the same role in the Information Support Force, according to state-run news agency Xinhua.

No new appointment was announced for SSF commander Ju Qiansheng, who disappeared from public view last year amid a series of military purges before reappearing at a conference in late January.

Analysts suggest that the reorganization indicates that the SSF was not an ideal organizational format for the Chinese military.

“It shows that the SSF was not a satisfactory arrangement. It reduced Xi’s visibility of important functions and did not really improve coordination between space, cyber, and network defense forces,” said Joel Wuthnow, a senior research fellow at the Pentagon-funded National Defense University.

Before its dissolution, the SSF consisted of two main units—the Aerospace Systems Department, overseeing the PLA’s space operations and reconnaissance, and the Network System Department, responsible for cyber, electronic, and psychological warfare capabilities.

“I think the new structure will give Xi better visibility into what is happening in space, cyberspace, and network management. These functions will now be supervised at his level and not through the Strategic Support Force, which served as a middleman,” Wuthnow said.

The lack of such visibility could pose significant risks, especially during periods of heightened tension and deep distrust between Beijing and Washington.

Last year, the US shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon after it entered American airspace, causing a fresh crisis between the two powers and straining bilateral relations for months.

While US intelligence officials claimed the balloon was part of an extensive surveillance program run by the Chinese military, Xi may not have been aware of the mission.

US President Joe Biden stated last June that Xi was unaware of the balloon and was “very embarrassed” when it was shot down after drifting off course into American airspace.

James Char, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, noted that the SSF’s Aerospace Systems Department would have been responsible for strategic reconnaissance during the spy balloon incident.

“It was one of the roles and responsibilities of the PLASSF,” he said.

It remains unclear if the balloon incident influenced Xi’s decision to disband the SSF.

Wuthnow of the National Defense University suggested that the newly established Information Support Force would likely assume responsibility for communications and network defense for the PLA.

“Getting these things right is of huge importance for the PLA in any future conflict, and they have been paying close attention to these functions and probably drawing lessons for their own organization from the war in Ukraine,” he said, referring to Russia’s ongoing invasion of its neighbor.

“So it makes sense that the [Central Military Commission] chairman would want to play a more direct role in that area.”