The incursions “appear to be attributable directly to the Chinese government and military,” the Pentagon said yesterday in a report to U.S. lawmakers on security issues involving China. The information targeted could be used to bolster China’s defense and technology industries and to support military planning, the Defense Department report said.

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Members of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) walk past the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, China. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

Attachment: Pentagon's China Report

“China is using its computer network exploitation capability to support intelligence collection against the U.S. diplomatic, economic, and defense industrial base sectors that support U.S. national defense programs,” the report said.

The Pentagon attribution of hacker attacks to China highlights an issue that has emerged as a source of friction in relations between the two countries. It came as part of a broader annual report to Congress covering security challenges arising from China.

The Defense Department also found that China is looking beyond its decades-old territorial dispute with Taiwan as it modernizes its military, according to the report titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2013.”

While preparing for a potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait appears to remain China’s principal focus, China is seeking to expand its influence to conduct counter-piracy and humanitarian assistance missions as well as regional military operations, the Pentagon found.

‘Greater Influence’

“As China’s interests have grown and as it has gained greater influence in the international system, its military modernization has also become increasingly focused on investments in military capabilities to conduct a wider range of missions beyond its immediate territorial concerns,” the Pentagon report said.

The People’s Liberation Army’s engagement with the militaries of other nations “continues to grow significantly,” the Pentagon said. Such interaction helps China share and gain insight into doctrines, strategies, tactics and techniques, according to the report.

The Defense Department’s report comes as President Barack Obama ’s administration pursues a strategic “pivot” to the Asia Pacific, bolstering U.S. naval and other resources in the region. The administration has said China shouldn’t view the change as an effort to contain its growing presence and assertiveness.

Anti-Ship Missile

Among the developments singled out in the Pentagon report was China’s fielding of “a limited but growing number of conventionally armed, medium-range ballistic missiles.”

One of those is the DF-21D anti-ship missile, described in the report as having a range of a range of 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) and being capable of attacking “large ships, including aircraft carriers, in the western Pacific Ocean .”

It’s not clear how many missiles China has deployed or where they are located, said David Helvey, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia .

“We are concerned about the ability of China to develop missiles that can project its military power with precision at great distances from China,” Helvey said at a Pentagon news conference yesterday on the report. In combination with other weapons systems, China is gaining the capability to deny the U.S. a military presence in the western Pacific, he said.

‘Large Scale’

The Pentagon report’s findings on cyber espionage echo remarks made two months ago by U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, who said China was engaged in a “large scale” cyber campaign to steal trade secrets an intellectual property. The Chinese army may be behind the hacking of at least 141 companies worldwide since 2006, according to a Feb. 19 report from Alexandria, Virginia-based Mandiant Corp.

Donilon, who helps shape U.S. foreign policy , said in a March 11 speech that China needs to recognize the scope of the hacking issue, take steps to halt computer espionage and start a “constructive dialogue” with the U.S. on the matter.

Chinese officials have previously said that China, too, is a victim of computer hacking and that it opposes cyber attacks.

The Obama administration, as part of its fiscal 2014 budget request, is seeking to increase total U.S. government spending on cybersecurity to $13 billion, about $1 billion more than current levels.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gopal Ratnam in Washington at [email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Walcott at [email protected]


S ource: BLOOMBERG NEWS