China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Cyberspace Force has made a rare public appearance through President Xi Jinping’s Lunar New Year video greeting, revealing its forward deployment on Fiery Cross Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands of the South China Sea. This unit, part of a 2024 PLA restructuring that dissolved the Strategic Support Force into specialized branches including Cyberspace, Aerospace, and Information Support Forces, focuses on cyber warfare, network defense, and information dominance. The section chief reported to Xi that the force is on “combat readiness duty,” vowing to stay “constantly ready for action” to safeguard China’s claimed outpost, while highlighting robust facilities on the artificial island.
Fiery Cross Reef (Yongshu Jiao to China) features militarized infrastructure like radar upgrades and surveillance gear, enabling electromagnetic spectrum control and intelligence operations amid tensions with the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Analysts view this as a signal of China’s expanding cyber capabilities beyond the mainland, potentially supporting “system destruction warfare” in regional conflicts, including drone countermeasures and maritime militia coordination. Xi instructed the unit to prioritize soldier welfare alongside duties, underscoring Beijing’s push for “informatized” warfare readiness by 2035. This deployment heightens concerns over escalation in the South China Sea, a vital trade route.
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