U.S. and security industry officials have raised alarms about the heightened cyber activities of hackers affiliated with China’s military.

Over the past year, these hackers have reportedly infiltrated numerous vital U.S. systems, suggesting a deliberate strategy by the People’s Liberation Army of China to test its ability to disrupt American life and understand the United States’ capabilities, particularly in the context of rising tensions over Taiwan.

According to insights shared with The Washington Post, the nature of these cyberattacks is not just opportunistic but seems to be preparatory for possible future actions.

This approach marks a shift from China’s previous focus, which was primarily on political and economic espionage.

Brandon Wales, the executive director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) at the Department of Homeland Security, underscored the seriousness of this shift.

He explained, “It is very clear that Chinese attempts to compromise critical infrastructure are in part to pre-position themselves to be able to disrupt or destroy that critical infrastructure in the event of a conflict.”

This change in tactic has been manifested through various targeted attacks.

Notable incidents include an attempt to infiltrate a water utility in Hawaii, breaches into at least one oil and gas pipeline, and efforts to compromise Texas’ independent power grid.

These attacks, while not causing significant disruption, were more focused on establishing hidden access to these systems, potentially to be exploited at a later date.

Joe McReynolds, a China security studies fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, likened these activities to building covert access points.

“You’re trying to build tunnels into your enemies’ infrastructure that you can later use to attack. Until then you lie in wait, carry out reconnaissance, figure out if you can move into industrial control systems or more critical companies or targets upstream. And one day, if you get the order from on high, you switch from reconnaissance to attack,” he stated to the Post.

These developments come at a time when U.S.-China relations are more strained than they have been in recent decades.

The tension is largely due to China’s aggressive actions and posturing in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly concerning Taiwan.

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The Biden administration has maintained a stance of “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan, not explicitly stating whether the U.S. would intervene in the event of a Chinese attack.

Adding to tensions the U.S. recently shot down a Chinese spy balloon that had traversed the continental United States.

While China claimed the balloon was a civilian airship used for meteorological study that accidentally veered off course, the incident raised significant concerns.

Moreover, the appearance of another spy balloon over Taiwan last week has reignited discussions about China’s surveillance activities, despite U.S. intelligence previously believing that China had suspended its spy balloon program after the U.S. incident.

In a bid to de-escalate the growing tensions, President Joe Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco last month.

During this summit, Biden emphasized the need to reopen military channels between the U.S. and China and addressed the issue of the fentanyl precursor industry in China, which significantly impacts the Mexican drug trade.

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