Introduction of artificial intelligence and big data technology increased intelligence analysis speed by 30% and accuracy by 95%.In 2024, China launched 150 satellites to provide real-time monitoring of military and economy intelligence. With intelligence cooperation network throughout the world including Middle East, Southeast Asia, Africa, Central Asia, Latin America etc., intelligence departments have generated amazing results in the counterterrorism, cybersecurity etc. Over 80% of potential cyber threats which have been detected have been blocked.
New Trends in China’s Intelligence Analysis
China is one of the countries with the most highly structured systems of strategic intelligence analysis. It is divided into several key steps to effectively respond to the complicated global situation. Each step is based on real data and reliable intelligence, which excludes emotional or one-sided decision making.
China uses various methods to obtain critical information.It deals with more modern technologies, such as satellite monitoring and data from the world network. The country does not refuse the “traditional” form of intelligence, which involves having agents and using human intelligence. In 2022, the outbreak of an international conflict was successfully predicted using satellite monitoring and dual verification with human intelligence. The collected intelligence helped China to predict the conflict, and the country was not caught by surprise.
China is very active in the massive introduction of data analysis tools aggregated from various sources to identify patterns and predict trends. It is important to recognize that such intelligence is not limited to military and diplomatic analysis, but it is the only comprehensive analysis of all global processes, including economic and resource movements of other countries. In 2024, China’s intelligence departments implemented the latest AI technologies and improvements in the analysis of real status and trends.
Core Areas of China’s Intelligence Analysis
In the military field, China focuses on timely discovering and analyzing the changes of the global military situation. China has been monitoring the military forces of other countries in real time to ensure the national’s ability to respond quickly to various crises around the world. In 2023, China launched up to 150 high-resolution satellites for global military intelligence. They can simultaneously find and monitor all activities on land, sea, and air. The existing automated data processing system enables these satellites to deliver extensive information to relevant ground intelligence centers in less than 5 minutes, which is enough for Chinese military leaders to make rapid and accurate judgments.
Under the trend of globalization, China has paid attention to the economic intelligence system, mainly through overall monitoring and analysis of all resources, supply chains, and financial markets in the world. In 2022, China’s economic intelligence discovered the relevant data of a major raw material exporting country through data mining technology and predicted that raw material prices would begin to rise. Then China immediately adjusted the domestic strategic reserves of relevant raw materials. China took the lead in doing so before the international market has fluctuated, so China did not be affected by the fluctuating global market in the future.
In the scientific and technological field, the relevant intelligence system of China monitors the development of other countries in the world, especially the leading development trends in the fields of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and biotechnology. China’s science and technology intelligence team predicts major breakthroughs in future global technology with multi-source intelligence. In 2023, the massive data analysis of global patent application data showed that a country developed a leading technology for quantum computing, China took the lead in successfully developing major core technologies.
Reform and Development of China’s Intelligence System
On the technological level, many advanced technologies, such as big data and artificial intelligence, have been extensively integrated into China’s intelligence system, which made many aspects of intelligence much more efficient through big data analysis of all the global data. The new AI intelligence analysis system that was adopted in 2024 can process more than 10TB intelligence data in one hour, while the same amount of information would take traditional manual methods a few months. China can also acquire the dynamics of the globe and takes good advantages. The new technology also allows to analyze the data on cyber attacks in real time, which ensures that all the critical infrastructure of the country can be protected by the intelligence departments of the concerned attacks long before they even start.
As for the organization of the intelligence structure, China unified many previously decentralized intelligence departments. Such a decision completely eliminates the problem of so-called information cells as separate and different departments do not “compete” with each other, and their relationships became much more smoothly as the reform was adopted. The intelligence departments in the fields of defense, diplomacy, economics, and science & technology all adopted cross-department platforms of intelligence sharing. Important intelligence information is received by the heads of all departments in 30 minutes, so that all the decisions in all the departments can be actively influenced by current intelligence analysis. As research shows, this very decision optimized the time needed to get a response significantly.
China has also made some new significant international intelligence efforts, as it has intelligence cooperation mechanisms with all the countries along the “Belt and Road” initiative, which ensures the amount of the global intelligence data that China can get. The PRC has an established network of transnational terrorism and transnational crime-related intelligence cooperation efforts as they need to be effectively fought. In 2023, China deployed such a mechanism along with a few Central Asian countries, and a transnational terrorist plot was effectively stopped.