Beijing targets computer networks of countries to attack economy, using Tibetans and Uyghurs to evade scrutiny
China has undertaken a major exercise to use Tibetans and Uyghurs of mixed parentage for carrying out cyber-attacks worldwide, targeting computer networks of countries and acquiring their data in order to hit their economies.
The move, according to experts, comes as Chinese telecom companies, especially those related to 5G technology, are increasingly being under scrutiny of various Governments and Beijing’s credibility taking a hit due to its suspected role in suppressing information on the origin and spread of Covid-19 in Wuhan, potentially hitting its business prospects.
Amid the expanding Chinese footprint through mega infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing has already put in place an Internet which is parallel to the Internet led by the US dubbed as Digital Silk Road to exploit the same for advancing its strategic and economic agenda, the experts said.
China has been organising the China Skills Competition or the Tibet Autonomous Region Cyber Security Skills Competition in collaboration with the telecommunication firms and engineering/hardware companies and academic institutions to scout talent from the Tibetan and Uyghur communities with mixed parentage to evade scrutiny of the law enforcement agencies in the targeted countries.
While such a Tibetan has been arrested in the US, the setting up of a Software Park in Gilgit-Baltistan region in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir has emerged as a major concern for India, they said.
Earlier this week, Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa visited Skardu to assess the latest situation and operational preparedness of Force Command Northern Areas (FCNA) troops deployed along the Line of Control (LoC) and later inaugurated a state-of-the art Software Technology Park in Gilgit. The Software Technology Park is an initiative of the Special Communication Organisation (SCO) backed by China to carry out cyber-attacks and compromise computer networks in the region. The Park will also seek to gather intelligence to secure the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor through data mining and modulating narratives based on such inputs.
India could also be vulnerable to such sophisticated attacks in the cyberspace as major technological upgrades in the telecommunication sector and Information technology-related hardware were majorly sourced from China as late as a few months before the onset of the confrontation between the armies of India and China in eastern Ladakh.