After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and its disintegration into 15 countries, it became clear that the era of bipolarity that prevailed for decades is over, as Russia at that time could no longer be an equivalent competitor to the United States, but the eyes began to turn quickly to a new pole advancing quietly and without Noise, a Chinese giant.

If, for centuries, military power has been the most prominent criterion for the power of states, especially those that wish to dominate and dominate, as we saw with the United States, Britain, France, the Soviet Union and before them many empires, such as the Ottoman and Byzantine, then China came with a different model this time that does not give priority to military force traditional.

The figures illustrate this in a way that does not need much. In 2021, there were 800 US military bases spread in 70 countries of the world, with between 150 and 200,000 soldiers deployed, compared to only 31 bases for Russia, Britain, France and China combined.

China's share of these military bases was a single base that it established in Djibouti on the eastern coast of Africa in 2017, and it was its first military base abroad in exchange for hundreds of bases for the United States, which since the collapse of the Soviet Union has become the only pole in this world.

But this does not contradict the fact that China succeeded - in less than 70 years - in transforming from an isolated country into one of the greatest economic powers in the world. Rather - we may not exaggerate if we say - that it has become or is about to become a true pole.

It seems that the economy, then, is the main engine of China's progress to the position of the superpower in the world, but the military power is also not far from the calculations, though in another way, as we will see.

Economy

According to a study published by the Balfour Center for Science and International Affairs - affiliated with the Kennedy School at Harvard American University - in March 2022, the United States has been the world's leading economy since it overtook Great Britain in the seventies of the nineteenth century, but it is now facing a serious competitor, which is China, which has succeeded In closing the gap with the United States in most economic races, and even surpassing it in some races.

The study points to what it calls the miraculous economic growth of China, which has reached four times that of the United States over the past four decades.

China's gross domestic product rose to about $17 trillion in 2021, compared to only 1.2 trillion at the beginning of this century, narrowing the difference with the United States, whose gross product in 2021 amounted to about $23 trillion, knowing that expectations indicate that China will jump to the fore. Within a decade.

According to the same study, China has excelled in several areas;

It has become the world's number one manufacturing workshop, the number one economic partner for most countries in the world, the most important link in the world's vital global supply chains, and the home of the largest number of the world's most valuable companies.

And it seemed that China succeeded in turning the population increase into a blessing, with a population of about 1.4 billion in 2020, which means that one fifth of the world’s population lives in China, the size of the labor force exceeded more than 800 million people, which exceeds the total population of the continent of Europe. The number of university graduates reached 9 million in 2021, according to the Chinese People's Daily.

China and the United States, a multi-areas competition (Shutterstock)

Artificial intelligence

Talking about China's economic superiority has become repetitive and known to all, but the matter is different in the field of military power, especially China's relentless pursuit to benefit from technological progress, especially artificial intelligence to achieve military superiority.

Since 2019, China has been pursuing a new concept of war, known as "smart warfare" or "artificial intelligence-based warfare".

This concept is based on the activation of artificial intelligence, and the employment of unmanned platforms (drones, for example) in a way that achieves the defeat of the enemy in the end, without resorting to hot conventional warfare.

And the German news agency quotes an analysis of writer Judith Bergman - published by the American Gatestone Institute - that what distinguishes China's pursuit of smart war is the cognitive aspects of smart war, not the focus on artificial intelligence and the mobilization of drone swarms.

The 2019 annual report to the US Congress on "Military and Security Developments for the People's Republic of China", prepared by the Office of the US Secretary of Defense, stated, "The Chinese People's Liberation Army is exploring next-generation operational concepts in AI-based warfare, such as War of attrition by intelligent swarms, cross-domain warfare, AI-based confrontations, and cognitive control processes.”

Artificial intelligence will aim, in the first place, to achieve advantages in psychological warfare, as the Chinese are studying a “cognitive confrontation” model in which the leaders of the People’s Liberation Army psychologically dominate rival leaders, through better and faster decisions

control of will

Bergman adds that according to Col. Koichiro Takagi of the Ground Self-Defense Force Command in Japan, intellectuals in China have publicly made clear that the basic operational concept of intelligent warfare is direct control of the enemy's will.

The idea is to employ artificial intelligence to directly control the will of senior decision-makers, including the president and parliamentarians, combatant leaders, and citizens.

Takagi explained that theorists in China believe that conventional warfare, as we know it, is about to change;

He says that they "look beyond that, believing that the development of information technology has reached its limits, and that the field of knowledge will be the battlefield of the future."

This is confirmed by a study prepared by Ben Nun, an assistant researcher at the American Enterprise Institute, and Chris Basler, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, last September. Advanced artificial intelligence that allows better decision-making gives an edge to the side that can combine human creativity and robotic computation.

The researchers added that artificial intelligence will aim, in the first place, to achieve advantages in psychological warfare, as the Chinese are studying a "cognitive confrontation" model in which the leaders of the People's Liberation Army psychologically dominate over rival leaders, through better and faster decisions.

It seems that the United States is aware of the seriousness of this Chinese research, so last December it imposed sanctions on 12 Chinese research institutes and 22 technology institutions in China, led by the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences and its 11 research institutes, for using These biotech actors support Chinese military uses, including mind-control weapons.

According to 3 reports prepared by the Chinese People's Liberation Army dating back to 2019, obtained by the Washington Times, China has conducted research related to mind control, or war of minds, over the course of several years, as part of its efforts to develop smart warfare.

One of these reports stated, "The war began to shift from seeking to destroy bodies to paralyzing and controlling the opponent... The focus here is on attacking the enemy's will to resist, not physical destruction," in order for "the mind to become the primary goal of attack and defense." For weapons with a new concept, victory without a fight is no longer a distant prospect.

the information

Japanese Colonel Takagi notes that the field of knowledge warfare requires huge amounts of information, and that China already has it;

China has collected a wealth of personal information on US government officials and ordinary US citizens, ensuring that it has a basis to influence the perceptions of these people.

In this way, China has accumulated huge amounts of data over the years, and it can be used as a weapon in the future.

Beijing has succeeded in identifying CIA agents in many countries of the world using this data.

There have been attempts to use digital means to influence the electoral process in the recent presidential elections in Taiwan.

Bergman argues that although most people view cognitive warfare as science fiction, experts warn that the United States should take this threat seriously.

Takagi says that "America and its allies should analyze smart war to avoid any surprise attacks in future wars."