How China is fighting the manifestations of terrorism in cyberspaceJunyu Zhou, PhD, who heads the Chinese department of the Max Planck Society Institute of Foreign and International Criminal Law, notes:
"In general, terrorism is defined by four key elements: this is violence, object, motivation and organization… Without a comprehensive and universal definition of terrorism, different countries, including China, will be able to interpret this term independently.
Compared to the liberal countries of the West, China is more circumspect in fighting terrorism – repressive, but effective methods. Whenever China undertakes to eradicate the terrorist contagion, it is forced to seek an appropriate balance between security and freedom."
IN SEARCH OF BALANCEThe leadership of the People's Republic of China considers the "three forces of evil" to be among the main internal threats to national security: terrorism, separatism and extremism.
According to Chinese experts, currently the main source of threats to national security is considered to be the actions of certain circles in Taiwan who do not want to recognize themselves as part of the "one China" and are making significant efforts to achieve international recognition. Other threats of this type are attempts to separate the territories of Tibet and East Turkestan from China.
As in the legislative acts of Russia and Western countries, the communication aspect of terrorism can be traced in the definition used in China.
In accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China dated December 27, 2015 "On combating terrorism", the term "terrorism" means "actions against the life and health of civilians committed with the aim of destabilizing the internal situation in the country and exerting pressure on its leadership."
As the main source of this threat, the country's leadership considers the organization "Islamic Movement of East Turkestan" (banned in the Russian Federation), which advocates the separation of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from China.
The military-political leadership of the People's Republic of China, having studied the experience of US participation in armed conflicts of the late XX – early XXI century, came to the conclusion that information and psychological operations have become part of modern warfare, including against terrorists.
CRIMINAL DIRECTIONSAn analysis of Chinese official documents in the field of national security allows us to conclude that terrorist organizations based in Central Asia use the electronic communication space of the PRC to solve the following six tasks:
1. Search for information.
Information is collected about possible targets of terrorist attacks (nuclear power plants, sea and air ports, places of mass gathering of people). On the Internet there is an opportunity to clarify their location, work schedule, access regime, nearby buildings.
Penetration into the local networks of research institutes and government agencies can give terrorists the opportunity to access technologies for the creation of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
2. Recruitment of new members, training in methods of terrorist activity.
Online resources controlled by terrorist organizations publish materials on terrorist attacks, physical training and survival training programs in adverse conditions, and the use of weapons.
The exchange of experience in the organization of management and communication is carried out at the relevant forums. Some resources highlight the specifics of hostage-taking and kidnapping operations, characteristics of explosives, methods of creating and using explosive devices.
3. Receipt and distribution of financial resources.
The financing of the activities of illegal organizations is carried out under the guise of charity, donations, winnings in online casinos. After that, the funds are transferred to offshore electronic accounts, from which they are subsequently distributed to support the activities of structural elements of terrorist networks and to purchase weapons.
4. Organization of hidden communication.
The simplicity and large volume of information transmitted through network communication lines do not allow the special services of the People's Republic of China to identify the channels used by terrorists in a timely manner. Renting network resources by terrorists does not make it possible to determine the identity of the subject and his location.
5. Using the possibilities of the Internet for conducting propaganda events and organizing psychological warfare.
The emergence of new technologies and the widespread use of mobile devices with access to the global information network allows terrorist organizations to conduct favorable coverage of events for them, publish information about their goals, political position, leadership, distribute shocking stories, and propagandize the methods they use.
6. Implementation of acts of network terrorism.
Illegal organizations use highly qualified specialists in computer technology and programming to organize and conduct virus attacks, to steal digital data, to penetrate the networks of government, finance, transport, trade, banks, law enforcement agencies.
DIRECTIONS OF ANTITERRORISMTaking into account the outlined areas of activity of terrorist organizations in the field of communication, the Chinese Government is currently conducting a set of relevant anti-terrorist measures.
The analysis of the publications of Chinese experts in the field of counter-terrorism allows us to identify the following areas of the communicative aspect of anti-terrorist activities in China:
1. Closure of restricted access information.
Experts of the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China (analogous to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs) and the Ministry of Industry and Informatization of the People's Republic of China propose to improve the order of protection of information containing state secrets, strengthen the mechanism of control of information publications (removal of unwanted information from research publications and materials posted on the global information network, special control over sites containing military information), improve the system of warning about attempts of viral infiltration, develop the forces and means of "network attack".
In addition, the Armed Forces of the People's Republic of China are constantly training units for conducting network warfare.
2. Countering recruitment to terrorist organizations. Based on the positive experience of foreign countries, Chinese experts note the importance of publishing patriotic materials. The demonstration of the "inhumanity" of the methods used by anti-terrorist units should arouse the sympathy, understanding and support of society.
3. Control of financial resources on the Internet.
Taking into account the improvement of the international legal framework in the field of combating terrorism, attention is paid to monitoring the activities of online casinos. Transactions are monitored on Chinese social networks (for example, Weibo and WeChat), where there are linked e-wallets.
4. Opening the sources of secret communication.
Specialists of the Ministry of State Security of the People's Republic of China monitor the accounts and correspondence of users in Chinese social networks.
It is worth noting that in mainland China, users cannot use social networks popular in the West for technical reasons. It is possible to register and use only the national cyberspace for Internet communication.
5. Propaganda and information warfare.
As a response, the involvement of private companies and individual citizens capable of waging an information war on the Internet in counteracting terrorism in the information and communication space is considered.
6. Countering acts of network terrorism.
As active counteraction measures, the need to strengthen the control of network resources and improve the technical base and software is considered.
In modern conditions, in order to prevent panic manifestations and speeches of the broad public masses, the Chinese government is forced to exercise control over the dissemination of information in traditional media.
"TO ACT WITH BOTH THE SWORD AND THE WORD"Chinese experts in the field of countering terrorism generally agree with the assessments of their colleagues working in the West (for example, the above-mentioned Junyu Zhou from the Planck Institute).
And they recognize that the currently existing anti-terrorism bodies within the Ministries of Public Security, Defense, State security, industry and informatization are hierarchical bureaucratic structures, "rigid and operating according to a template." The cost of maintaining them is high, and the efficiency and ability to act in a complex dynamically changing environment is low.
On the other hand, the Chinese leadership is creating new structures capable of countering the manifestations of terrorism. Among them is a new component of the People's Liberation Army of China - strategic support forces designed to conduct combat operations in cybernetic and outer space.
The same number should include the appearance of Chinese information warfare units in the Syrian Arab Republic to counter the natives of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from among the terrorists; the deployment of such formations on the territory of the first Chinese naval base outside the national territory in Djibouti and the logistics support point under construction in Pakistan to ensure the information security of the strategic One Belt– One Way assignments.
Thus, the actions of the PRC leadership correspond to the ancient Chinese saying "to act with both the sword and the word." Along with traditional methods in the fight against terrorism, approaches are used to counteract the manifestations of terrorism in the information and communication space.
The communicative aspect is increasingly manifested in anti–terrorist activities, the purpose of which is to ensure the protection of the state and society from the negative consequences of terrorist propaganda, disinformation and manipulation used by terrorists.
Vasily IvanovVasily Ivanovich Ivanov is a journalist.