China in the 21st Century - Thesis Example

?China in the 21st Century Table of Contents China in the 21st Century Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Thesis ment 4 Human Intelligence Overseas 5 Domestic Intelligence 6 Electronic Intelligence 7 About PRC 7 The Taiwan Issue 8 The US as a Perceived Threat to PRC Hegemony in the Pacific 10 The Various Methods Used by PRC 10 IMINT Measured to be the Greatest Threat to the US 12 Understanding IMINT 13 Conclusion 15 References 16 Bibliography 18 Introduction The investigative products with regard to the various intelligence communities are believed to be planned in order to offer the required kind of information with the intention of aiding the policymakers as well as the president regarding comprehension of the progresses which further help them out to make improved decisions. Preferably, the collected information and the offered judgments are required to be mandatorily relevant to the aspects that are needed to be correctly deciphered by the policymakers. However, it should also be noted in this regard that the stated facets should not be distorted just for the reason of sustaining or for supporting a specific policy consequence1. The existence of intelligence activities in a particular democracy is learnt to exist since long. It is considered to necessary for a certain democracy for the reason of defending the particular state or country in opposition to every form of threats with respect to the national security. The services related to the security intelligence are considered to be facet related to the police force of the nation and so is considered to be a legal activity. It was long forecasted by various analysts of the West that China was competent enough to have a greater degree of control as well as influence with respect to the global scenario. China is considered to be the sole nation in order to value the annual assessments of the different military activities with regard to the United States Congress. Subsequently, the United States (US), specifically, perceives the pattern of speedy military as well as economic development of China to be increasingly threatening to its domination. However, any kind of intention related to hegemony has constantly been denied by the officials of China. Regardless of this immense interest with respect to China, the most potential and imperative aspect of the nation, which is measured to be its intelligence has been learnt to be usually ignored by the US. It needs to be mentioned in this regard that the intelligence activities conducted by China was viewed to be amongst the greatest risks posed to the US in the recent times2. Thesis Statement The study would intend to focus on the activities that are carried out by the intelligence agencies of China or rather the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Various attempts are found to be made by the PRC to obtain information regarding the programs related to the nuclear weapons. It also requires to be mentioned in this respect that China has already proved to be successful to a significant extent in getting hold of the desired kind of information. In relation to this particular context, the assortment of methods that are learnt to be made use of by the PRC in order to collect information from the US would also be concentrated on along with providing a detailed explanation for each. Based on the provided explanation, the most effective method engaged by the PRC which could be measured to be the greatest threat for the US would be ascertained. Human Intelligence Overseas The Chinese espionage is considered to be managed primarily by two different agencies, i.e. the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), particularly the Second Department of the General Staff Department of the PLA and the Ministry of State Security (MSS). While the facet of intelligence is perceived to be quite a recognizable complexity for any intelligence forecaster, the modus operandi of the Chinese intelligence is however known to offer some form of new realistic complicatedness with regard to the attempts put in by the western counterintelligence. Similar to the Soviet pattern, the intelligence agencies of China are known to engage lesser number of trained functioning individuals or rather bodies who further take on quite a large amount of agents. The PLA or even the MSS are learnt to principally depend on engaging students who are believed to have plans for going abroad for the purpose of study, academics visiting the overseas for the reason of conferences, other kind of travelers who generally intend to devote quite limited time across the Chinese borders or businessmen travelling abroad for the reason of short meetings. Therefore, these are the kind of individuals or rather the category of individuals who are engaged with the intention of gathering information. These individuals are supposedly instructed to repossess particular information pieces or are even asked or rather directed to collect the maximum information possible with regard to a body in relation to a pertinent form of study. This category of individuals or rather the agents are believed to be short of any kind of intelligence training and even any form of know-how or knowledge regarding the underground activities. Therefore, such characteristics make them weak and comparatively vulnerable to the aspect of observation and detainment on the doubt of being involved with some intelligence activities. It needs to be stated in this context that numerous of the agents are found to successfully come back with extremely little amount of information and few of which might even be granted the permission to be exported3. Domestic Intelligence Unlike the security or rather the intelligence services of the American equivalents, the related security services of China are known to carry out their respective operations or rather the activities by pursuing an authoritarian system. This particular factor is believed to prove to be quite advantageous for the Chinese in terms of domestic surveillance. As a substitute of continuous congressional supervision, the spy agencies of China are provided with free supremacy or control of the entire country. Regardless of the Western ideals related to security as well as privacy, this specific amount of information is supposed to offer considerable degree of benefits. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been learnt of being legally incapable of maintaining a record of every individual citizen of the US. Whereas, the MSS is known to differ in this respect as they possess the right as well as the authority to maintain files for their every single citizen. This implies that the MSS is capable or rather is provided with the permission and the authority to command an instantaneous right to use of information with regard to just about any individual who is considered to pose certain kind of risk or also be slightly associated with a probable danger in terms of the national security. The MSS can access all the relevant type of available information for this kind of an individual even devoid of the need of carrying out any kind of significant background research or even some sort of actual supervision. The process of background research as well as surveillance could both prove to be considerably time-consuming along with being turning out to be a bureaucratically annoying procedure in the US4. Majority of the intelligence functions that are carried our domestically prove to targets similar to the foreign operations. Business people, government bureaucrats and visiting academics are all found to be subject to regular employment endeavors, are requested to reveal information to the government of China or even are persuaded to make use of their respective status for the reason of collecting information. Additionally, employed agents might also be asked to exercise their extent of manipulation overseas with the intent to influence occurrences in order to favor the program of the PRC5. Electronic Intelligence The rapidly increasing commercial industry of aerospace in China is found to offer an idyllic stand for the reason of expansion of its already alarming competencies in relation to Signals Intelligence (SIGINT). China is a country which has been found to carry on the largest functions associated with SIGINT with regard to the Orient along with entailing mobile coverage branching from the vessels of the PLA Naval which helps to have a clear listening particularly with respect to the radio broadcasts of America. It has been further discovered in this respect that the fresh satellite fleets also offer great prospects as regards to China in terms of live photo-reconnaissance across the globe6. About PRC People’s Republic of China or PRC is known to put in extensive endeavors for the reason of collecting information regarding the technologies used in the military services of the United States (US) along with some sort of confidential data as well. PRC has been found to entail intelligent services of chiefly three different kinds. They are known to keep a vigil and control on the non-Chinese organizations that have their factories as well as offices in the country. The PRC is being viewed or perceived by a number of concerned entities to be a powerhouse that is related to the economy along with amongst the principal reputed military which is believed to entail the prospect to interpret the economic authority to military sphere7. The association existing among the People’s Republic of China and the US has been measured to be quite difficult or rather complicated in nature for the past fifty years which implies that this kind of a relationship has been in the existence from the time the PRC was established in the year 19498. The professional intelligence services of the PRC have been stated to be chiefly engaged with the fact of acquisition of technology. The PRC has been learnt to recognize the US to be a principal kind of international threat with regard to the subsistence of its respective communist regime. Owing to this specific notion, China is known to have promoted military as well as political guiding principles. These guiding principles are found to have materialized to be the main strategic challenge that faces up to the US presently. The leaders associated with the PRC have been learnt to regard America to be a grave menace owing to some specific reasons9. The Taiwan Issue Taiwan, which is considered to be an island state, is known to have a population of around 21.5 million and is supposed to be situated nearly 140 miles away from the Chinese coast, was known to be a division of China in the past. Taiwan was used to be regarded as a colony of Japan from the year 1895 to 1945. Taiwan was learnt to become a region under the control of China after Japan got beaten or conquered during the World War II. After a certain period of time which has been measured to be approximately around four years, subsequent to the defeat of the nationalist opposition related to Chiang Kaishek by the Mao Zedong communist forces, the nationalists escaped from the collective mainland to Taiwan where they were learnt to have formed a separate government-in-exile along with the support as well as assistance extended in direct form by the US. Although, the government of the US changed political acknowledgment to Beijing from Taipei in the year 1979 but it still assured to keep up the supply of weapons to Taiwan for the reason of national defense in compliance with The Taiwan Relations Act10. The above mentioned act has been found to definitely mention that the political identification of Beijing by Washington was reliant on the anticipation that the prospect of Taiwan would be ascertained with the help of peaceful ways. It was also further stated in the act that any kind of endeavor for the determination of the future related to Taiwan except for peaceful ways , engaging embargoes or boycotts was supposed to be considered as an intimidation posed against the security as well as the peace with respect to the area of the Western Pacific region. This particular condition was even stated to prove or rather be taken into deliberation by the US as a serious concern. The mentioned act was learnt to permit the US to supply weapons which was regarded to be of a protection measure to Taiwan. It was finally stated in that act that it was the US policy which facilitated the continuance of its competence in order to defend against any alternative to force and even different kinds of compulsion which would likely be perceived to put at risk the aspect of security or even the economic as well as the social structure in relation to the populace of Taiwan11. Taiwan was always viewed to be a kind of rogue province by China which was called for the immediate requirement of being brought back together with that of the mainland. As an additional expansion with respect to the mentioned perception, the PRC was found to have frequently made threats regarding the employment of strength in the form of a choice against Taiwan in case the island at any provided point of time thought of pronouncing independence from China. It was also believed by the PRC and was even mentioned formally that severe actions would be taken by the People’s Liberation Army of China against the naval forces of the US in the region of Pacific12. The US as a Perceived Threat to PRC Hegemony in the Pacific The US is viewed by the PRC to be the chief obstruction in relation to its attainment of command in the region of Pacific. China has been known to perceive itself to be the prevailing power in the Pacific region and the US to be its sole actual long-standing military competitor in that particular region. Therefore, the PRC aims at finally flushing out the existence of the military forces from the eastern region of Hawaii. The successful execution of this intention and plan by the PRC would ensure the removal of the existing power and control of the US on the Pacific region and would fundamentally result in limiting the military authority of the US on the western seaboard. Therefore, it can be evidently deciphered from the made discussion that is being professed by China that its respective hegemonic security as well as intentions with regard to the Pacific region are found to be constantly being put at risk by the US. This definite viewpoint has led to the development and the escalation of the existing complex relationship among the two nuclear forces. Thus, all these mentioned reasons have been learnt to encourage the PRC for collecting confidential military information with respect to the US13. The Various Methods Used by PRC The existence of five chief forms of disciplines is found to be pertinent with the field of intelligence and they are SIGNIT, MASINT, HUMINT, OSINT and IMINT. HUMINT stands for human intelligence which is regarded to be an activity related to spying or in other terms espionage. This specific activity that is HUMINT usually calls for the prerequisite of sending the appointed agents to abroad countries where these particular agents put in their respective efforts for the reason of engaging foreign nationals for the reason of spying. A few of the HUMINT sources are also found to act as unpaid assistants and are referred as walk-ins. Few kinds of HUMINT get indulged in carrying out their spying activities directly which even encompasses the functions of stealing observation and even information. The other kind of HUMINT is known to be formed with the aid of liaison associations with the other existing intelligent services which is also referred as HUMINT-to-HUMINT associations14. The other form of activity that is employed by the intelligence agencies are the Signals intelligence which is also known as SIGINT. Information with the application of this activity is found to be gathered with the help of collectors such as ground sites and even ships or satellites that are usually earth-based. The SIGINT is known to comprise various kinds of interception and they are: Interception in relation to the communications existing among the two parties (COMINT) Interception in relation to the facts as well as figures conveyed by the weapons at the time of the tests (TELINT) and Interception in relation to the electronic discharges made from the modern form of weapons along with tracking methods (ELINT)15. GEOINT was created in order to provide an explanation along with taking in both the advanced and the specified competencies in relation to imagery intelligence, geospatial information and imagery. The complete supremacy or command with this certain kind of activity or discipline of GEOINT is believed to stem from the incorporation and assessment of the entire three kinds of competencies. The combination of these capabilities results in additional inclusive, custom made intelligence products that are made use of for an extensive range of customers and even problems. For instance GEOINT is considered to be adequately proficient of integrating advanced form of technology for the reason of creating interactive and self-motivated products, for instance practical mission models that are regarded as quite helpful in ascertaining the influences or rather the consequences of currents, wind, speed, tides and daylights among others with respect to a mission or even in case of intelligence problems. This specifically explained proficiency is considered to make great contributions in the field of intelligence by accurately finding the locations of the objects as well as the activities, evaluating and discriminating the connotation of the occurrences along with offering a definite perspective with regard to the decision makers. Therefore, to put it simply it could be stated that GEOINT is referred as a discipline in relation to the intelligence and the tradecraft which is believed to have developed from the incorporation of imagery intelligence, imagery along with geospatial information16. The other discipline that is the Measurement and Signatures Intelligence (MASINT) refers to the function of gathering information regarding the weapons competencies and the activities related to the various kinds of industries. This specific function is found to be made use of in opposition to a broad assortment associated with the intelligence targets involving the progress as well as the explosion of the Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD), arms management, environmental concerns, developments made in the field of narcotics weapons, dishonesty as well as refutation of the practices and space related activities. For instance, MASINT proves to be helpful in identifying the kinds of gases that are discharged by a particular factory which can even aid with the recognition of the chemical weapons17. Finally, Open Source Intelligence which is also referred to OSINT is known to entail information that is believed to be openly available, for instance information obtained from the source of media, from the internet, publicly available facts as well as figures along with professional as well as academic form of output. Therefore, it could be well comprehended from the discussion made above that the mentioned kind of disciplines are made use of by the various countries across the world in order to gather information beyond the borders. IMINT Measured to be the Greatest Threat to the US It has already been mentioned previously that China has been trying hard to obtain valuable information regarding the technologies used by the US overall and also in their military activities. Several ways are employed by China in order to derive the pertinent kind of information. However, the most productive method amongst the stated disciplines is identified to be GEOINT or rather IMINT. IMINT forms a part of GEOINT and is referred as imagery intelligence. This particular method helps to extract geographic, intelligence and technical form of information by way of elucidation or assessment of the security as well as the imagery materials18. The functions related to IMINT is regarded to be comparatively effective in comparison to the other stated functions as this particular function engages imagery assessment as well as incorporation with the other existing intelligence activities for the reason of producing effectual intelligent products. IMINT is found to prove quite helpful and competent as it is known to provide information fundamentally with the assistance of two different kinds of support. The initial kind of support has been gauged to be the situational awareness or rather the facility of providing a clear imagery representation of places as well as objects. This particular advantage is learnt to be the aid that is provided in collaboration with GEOINT. The other support is measured to be the assistance that is offered by imagery to be a substantiating source with regard to the field of intelligence for some other form of discipline, for instance the signals intelligence (SIGINT) or even the human intelligence (HUMINT)19. . Understanding IMINT IMINT is calculated to be an essentially valuable component related to the aspect of intelligence. This specific function offers a real time view of the actual location, for instance the military commanders with the application of this function is able to get a real time picture of the actual location of the battlefield. It offers detailed, accurate and concrete kind of information regarding the location along with the related physical features of the environment as well as of the threat. It is regarded to be the chief information source relating to the vital terrain characteristics, infrastructure as well as installations. Assessment of Order of Battle (OOB), structuring the target intelligence and Battle Damage Assessment are understood to be quite imperative kinds of military operations that are found to be heavily reliant on the functions of IMINT. IMINT is considered to be a completely investigated and calculated imagery along with supporting comprehensive intelligence text form of reports. These mentioned reports are also known to entail information from various other existing or prevailing intelligence disciplines, such as SIGINT. Therefore, it could be well comprehended from the above discussion that IMINT with regard to the subject of this research study can be considered to be quite a severe threat for the US intelligence communities that is posed by the PRC. The PRC can employ this particular function in the US for the reason of collecting information regarding the weapons as well as technology used in the military services of the country. The application of this particular function by the PRC would help to collect the detailed information regarding the technologies used in the military activities. It would also provide a pictorial representation of the kinds of weapons used by the US military. This would help China to not only access the information but would offer it with a detailed view of the weapons as well along with the way of their respective usage. Thus, in case of the US this would prove to be a major threat as this would reveal the military secrets of the country in length and breadth. Conclusion The above discussion evidently focuses on the various aspects related to the field of intelligence. It helps in gaining a lucid comprehension regarding the various kinds of methods employed by the intelligence services for the reason of collecting information. The relationship between China and the US has been determined to be quite complex owing to various reasons stated above. The PRC has been learnt to be actively involved with the process of gathering information regarding the nuclear weapons of the US along with certain other confidential information as well. It has also been found in this regard that the mainland has been successful in obtaining certain form of their intended information. However, the methods or the ways by which the information was obtained is still unknown. Therefore, the diverse intelligence disciplines have been analyzed in this regard in order to ascertain the most effective method engaged by the PRC to obtain information from the US. The analysis reveals the process or function of IMINT to be the greatest threat that is posed towards the US in this context. References Boyles, T., 2007. “China Overview”. “Chinese Intelligence”. http://nortalktoowise.com/papers/CHN375ChineseIntelligence.pdf Deakin, Richard S. Battlespace Technologies: Network-Enabled Information Dominance. United Kingdom: Artech House, 2010. Federation of American Scientists, 2006. “National System for Geospatial Intelligence”. “Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) Basic Doctrine”. http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/nga/doctrine.pdf Gilday, K., 2001. “Chinagate: A U.S. Counterintelligence Failure”. “MMN International Inc.”. http://www.mediamonitors.net/kevingilday1.pdf Lieberthal, K., 2009. “The U.S. Intelligence Community and Foreign Policy Getting Analysis Right”. “Foreign Policy at Brookings”. http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2009/9/intelligence%20community%20lieberthal/09_intelligence_community_lieberthal.pdf Richelson, J. T., 1999. “China and the United States: From Hostility to Engagement, 1960-1998”. “The George Washington University”. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB19/ Sharp, Walter L. Geospatial Intelligence Support to Joint Operations. United States: DIANE Publishing, 2011. Stanton, Louise. The Civilian-Military Divide: Obstacles to the Integration of Intelligence in the United States. California: ABC-CLIO, 2009. Wortzel, L. M., 1998. “China’s Military Potential”. “Strategic Studies Institute”. http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/pub79.pdf Bibliography Eftimiades, Nicholas. Chinese Intelligence Operations. United Kingdom: Nicholas Eftimiades, 1994. Read More