According to reports, the Communist Party of China's military has burrowed into more than 20 major utilities suppliers in the last year including a water utility in Hawaii, a major West Coast port and at least one oil and gas pipeline. They reportedly also bypassed elaborate cyber security systems by intercepting passwords and log-ins unguarded by junior employees.
This project they are conducting amid growing tension over Taiwan was codenamed Volt Typhoon. Analysts commented this could unplug U.S. efforts to protect its interests in the South China Sea. "It is very clear that Chinese attempts to compromise critical infrastructure are in part to pre-position themselves to be able to disrupt or destroy that critical infrastructure in the event of a conflict," said Brandon Wales of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS') Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Reports reveal that hackers often cover their tracks by using unsuspicious devices such as home or office routers in a bid to steal employee credentials. Once inside the systems, they can pose as legitimate users, in a technique known as "living off the land."
Moreover, the Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines also alerted back in February that China is already almost certainly capable of launching cyberattacks to disable oil and gas pipelines and rail systems. "If Beijing feared that a major conflict with the United States was imminent, it almost certainly would consider undertaking aggressive cyber operations against U.S. homeland critical infrastructure and military assets worldwide," the annual assessment included. In August, the Chinese hackers were allegedly caught trying to penetrate systems run by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas which provide the state's power. But Hawaii is thought to be the biggest target given the crucial role it would play for the U.S. if conflict broke out over Taiwan.
Chinese military planners were said to have intended network warfare to play a crucial role in amphibious assaults with air and missile strikes coordinated alongside cyber-attacks on command networks, critical infrastructure, satellite networks and military logistics, according to Jamestown Foundation's China expert Joe McReynolds. "This is stuff they pretty clearly see as relevant to a Taiwan scenario though they don't explicitly say this is how we're going to take over Taiwan." It has been fairly easy to get operatives in place with through the open borders.
Volt Typhoon was also reported to target communications, manufacturing, transportation, construction, maritime, government, information technology and education organizations. Biden was expected to raise the concerns during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month at the APEC summit in San Francisco but the topic was avoided. "Security experts" have warned that this is a battle the U.S. cannot afford to lose. The Trump administration had taken steps to fortify U.S. infrastructure by requiring the removal of Chinese technology from key components. However, these polices were among those canceled by executive order on Biden's first day in office.
Meanwhile, critics have raised a significant concern. Are these hacking warnings just false flag claims to invite China to war with the United States? Worse, mainstream media outlets, even the independent ones, are just parroting these warnings without question.
U.S. insists China has been accelerating military buildup to encroach on Western allies in the Indo-Pacific
Sticking to the narrative that the United States should be ready any time to "war" with China – which would mean massive defense budget allocation – Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall back in September warned that the Asian country was already beefing up its military. He also urged that America must optimize its forces to counter the rising threat. "Our job is to deter that war and to be ready to win if it occurs," Kendall said. "We're all talking about the fact that the Air and Space Forces must change, or we could fail to prevent and might even lose a war."
He also said that it was vital to prepare for war because China has already created two new military branches: a force designed to counter aircraft carriers, airfields and other critical assets, and a strategic support service that works to achieve information dominance in the space and cyber domains. "China has been reoptimizing its forces for great power competition and to prevail against the U.S. in the Western Pacific for over 20 years," he added. "China has been building a military capability specifically designed to achieve their national goals and to do so if opposed by the United States," he added.
U.S.-China relations have reached a low point amid rising tensions over the self-governing island nation of Taiwan, which Beijing sees as historically part of the mainland. According to Andrew Krepinevich, Jr., a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, China has become increasingly assertive across a wide swath of the Pacific, advancing its expansionist maritime claims and encroaching on the waters of key U.S. allies and important security partners, including Japan, the Philippines, and of course, Taiwan. (Related: Another PROXY WAR in the works? U.S. shaping the Philippines into the next Ukraine.)
Given that both China and the United States possess nuclear arsenals, many strategists are concerned about a more catastrophic outcome. People see a direct war between the two countries that could lead to uncontrolled escalation, a possibility that Biden's regime has been trying to instill in the public's perception as a from of mind conditioning. For critics, a scenario like this should be taken seriously by U.S. policymakers. But then again, what if this is what the government would intend to happen?
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