WASHINGTON — China's belief in asymmetric warfare may be one of the major forces driving its efforts at the national level to develop missiles, submarines and, more recently, cyber-warfare capability. Chinese cyber-warfare concepts subscribe to the notion of "the inferior defeating the superior," which draws inspiration from both Sun Tzu and Mao Zedong.
Though China has achieved remarkable successes in its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programs, other military research and development successes are rare. Chinese achievements in nuclear weapons and missiles resulted from concentrated resources, effective coordination of distinct specialties, and determined leadership directed at the achievement of a single, well-defined goal.
Unlike most weapon programs, which were developed in total government secrecy, dual-use information technologies (IT) are out in the open. Indeed, IT in the West is developed mostly in the civilian sector and then migrated into military applications. In recent years, U.S. weapon systems have been heavily embedded with commercial- off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software components.