China using AI tech to simulate war games for invasion operations against Taiwan: Report
Oct 31, 2021
Beijing [China] October 31 : People's Liberation Army of China has been using artificial intelligence technology to simulate war games for invasion operations against Taiwan, a report released by the Centre for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) at Georgetown University informed.
The report, titled 'Harnessed Lightning: How the Chinese Military is Adopting Artificial Intelligence', studies nearly 350 AI-related equipment contracts awarded by the PLA and state-owned defence enterprises last year to track China's adoption of the technology, Taiwan News reported.
"Specifically, we find the PLA is buying AI systems designed to identify undersea vehicles, wargame Taiwan operations, track US navy ships, and deploy electronic countermeasures, among other tasks," CSET researcher Ryan Fedasiuk was quoted saying by Taiwan News.
"We find that China's military-civil fusion development strategy is paying real dividends. Of the 273 AI equipment suppliers in our data set, 60 per cent are private companies. The overwhelming majority are quite small, established only in the last 10 years."
China often uses wargaming to make up for its lack of real-world combat experience and to effectively test and optimize combat plans, the report says, citing a PLA commander.
Meanwhile, Taiwan has been witnessing an increase in military incursions from Beijing.
The developments came as Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China, despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades.
Taipei, on the other hand, has countered the Chinese aggression by increasing strategic ties with democracies including the US, which has been repeatedly opposed by Beijing.
