On China, it’s time to consider cyber operations | Opinion

The recent border clashes between India and China have led analysts, habituated to conventional warfare, to compare the relative strengths of the two adversaries in terms of the number of tanks, aircraft and other military paraphernalia. It appears that Indian strategic discourse has yet again discounted cyber operations as an instrument of power projection, which could have offered a degree of flexibility when it comes to coercing, compelling and imposing costs on the contentious neighbour It appears that Indian strategic discourse has yet again discounted cyber operations as an instrument of power projection, which could have offered a degree of flexibility when it comes to coercing, compelling and imposing costs on the contentious neighbour. The Australian prime minister’s dramatic public disclosure of an ongoing State- Cyber operations broadly fit into the template of a hybrid, multi-dimensional offensive waged by militaries wary of breaching acknowledged redlines. On the other hand, China’s People’s Liberation Army has employed cutting edge cyber operations, endorsing these as the strategic pivot of an “informationalised” battle space. The US Naval War College made a crucial observation on “the importance of Presidential personalities in determining cyber operations in crises”, following wargames conducted over a period of seven years.