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Cyber warfare will be the weapon of choice for Beijing in the event of a conflict, says former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison.
In a speech that the former PM is set to present in Tokyo at the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) conference, Morrison has declared that as China, Iran, and Russia are the countries most notorious for carrying out state-sponsored cyber attacks, an attack from them would involve first targeting networks and critical infrastructure.
“The first shots fired in any war will not be bullets, but bits and bytes, disabling your military systems and civil infrastructure,” he said.
IPAC is an alliance comprised of global legislators and senior politicians representing over 30 nations. Together, participating nations work together to strengthen national security against China, maintain human rights, and best hold it to “the standards of the international legal order, which itself must be protected against distortion”.
This comes after a Chinese state-backed cyber attack targeted the Australian government midway through last year.
Launched by the “Red Ladon” group, which has ties to the Chinese government, mined sensitive data from the defence and energy sectors for a period of three months, as well as targeting health agencies.
The group spammed government employees with emails featuring a link to “Australian Morning News”, a fake news site that cloned real articles to impersonate a real publication.
More recently, security issues have been expressed with the use of Chinese security cameras in government buildings.
During his time as Prime Minister, Scott Morrison expressed concern at China’s cyber practices, with the government at the time, along with allies from the US and UK, accusing Beijing of malicious cyber activities.
Home affairs minister at the time, Karen Andrews, said that Australia would call out any nation whose cyber activities threaten it.
“[China has] been called out and we will continue to call out, not only China but other nations, if they do launch and undertake significant attacks here on Australians and Australian businesses,” she said.
Morrison is also set to comment on the relationship between China and Australia, telling IPAC that Australia should maintain a strong stance on applying sanctions against the communist party officials following UN discoveries of torture and human rights violations.
“The resumption of dialogue has occurred because Australia took a strong stand. Going forward, I am pleased the new Australian government can take advantage of China’s change in tactics, but they must be careful not to change our posture or resolve, or give the impression of such a change.”
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