China Seeks to Boost its Psychological Warfare Capabilities

China’s recent unveiling of its new Gaoxin-7 aircraft demonstrates its belief in the power of psychological warfare, many analysts believe.

The primary mission of the PSYOP (Psychological Operations) plane will be to "plant" false messages in certain countries, backed up by cyber attacks.

The Gaoxin-7 bears more than a passing resemblance - in terms of capabilities - to the U.S. Air Force’s EC-130J "Commando Solo."

Commander Solo is a flying broadcast station which can transmit media in AM, FM, HF, TV and military communication frequencies to enemy positions.

It is so powerful that training missions have to be conducted 200 miles off the coast of the United States so that civil communications are not interrupted.

It was put to work in both Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

It broadcasted messages in Arabic urging Iraqi soldiers to surrender, in several cases with great success.

More recently, it called on Libyan soldiers to stop fighting and return to their homes, i-HLS.com reports.

Chinese military planners have been closely monitoring the use of Commander Solo and analysts believe Gaoxin-7 could be used against anti-government troops in Taiwan.

It is feared the Gaoxin-7 would be used to broadcast messages to demoralize Taiwanese troops, and persuade them to surrender.