President Xi unveils PLA's Information Support Force

President Xi Jinping unveiled on Friday the newest branch in the Chinese military - the Information Support Force of the People's Liberation Army, calling it a vital power in modern warfare.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, conferred the new force's flag to its commander Lieutenant General Bi Yi and political commissar of the unit General Li Wei at the force's establishment ceremony inside the CMC headquarters building in Beijing.

The president gave his instructions to the Information Support Force, ordering it to strive to become a powerful, modernized unit.

He said that establishing the Information Support Force is a major decision made by the CPC Central Committee and the CMC that aims to build a strong PLA, and a strategic step to establish a new structure of services and improve the military system with Chinese characteristics.

"This is of profound and far-reaching significance to the modernization of national defense and the armed forces and to the military's fulfillment of its missions and tasks in the new era," Xi said. "The Information Support Force is a brand-new strategic branch of the PLA and a key pillar of the integrated development and use of the network information system. It plays an important role and bears great responsibility in promoting the PLA's high-quality development and the ability to fight and win modern warfare."

The president ordered that the new force must be absolutely loyal to the Party.

He stressed that the unit must focus on its core task of using information assets to support combat operations. It must maintain information flow, integrate information resources, protect information security and must fit in the military's joint operations system.

The commander-in-chief also urged the new force to boost innovation, strengthen coordination and integration among different systems, cooperate with other forces, and bolster the sharing of assets. It must form a network information system that can support modern combat operations and has Chinese characteristics, Xi noted.

According to the CMC, the new force is under its direct control.

The PLA Strategic Support Force, which was founded in December 2015 to take charge of the space, cyberspace and electronic warfare operations, has been announced to be dismantled by the top military authority.

Meanwhile, the leadership and structures of the PLA Space Force and the PLA Cyberspace Force have been rearranged accordingly, said the CMC.

The announcement also marked the first time China has confirmed the existence of the Space Force and the Cyberspace Force, which were widely believed to be major parts of the Strategic Support Force.