China`s Military Reform: The Strategic Support Force, Non-Traditional Warfare, and the Impact on Cross-Strait Security

Abstract

In late 2015, the Chinese leadership announced sweeping reforms designed to bring the military into the modern era, signaling a departure from a traditional overdependence on ground forces and incorporating extensive structural reorganization to create a more balanced joint command system. The reform aims to create a system suited to the modern conditions of informatization, with direct leadership from the Central Military Commission, and is bolstered by the Chinese military`s advancement in progressive information technology, space technology, and cyber security. With the creation of a new Strategic Support Force (SSF), China has clearly demarcated the operational command of traditional and non-traditional warfare within the military system, representing a strategic and tactical step forward that gives greater scope to the People`s Liberation Army (PLA) to dominate in non-traditional military theaters. While the military reform has the potential to affect military strategy around Asia and further afield. the extent of China`s deep and far-reaching military reform, with a view to consolidating military capabilities under a joint command and giving full rein to non-traditional warfare under conditions of informatization , represents a particularly significant factor in the stability of cross-strait relations and security. This study will outline the creation of the SSF under the new reform, and discuss the development of China`s strategy and tactics for non-traditional warfare under conditions of informatization. The implications of the military reform will then he put into the cross-strait context, in order to draw conclusions concerning the potential impact on cross-strait security.