General Ju is the man behind CCP's cyber warfare against India

Roughly 2,500 km from the North and South Blocks in Central Delhi as the crow flies, is the city of Kunming in Yunnan province of Southern China

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

Tucked away among a line of trees and office buildings and near the Kunming general hospital is a column of five-storey buildings that, among other establishments, house the “Unit 78020” of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

“Unit 78020”, like multiple other units of similar identification marks, is the Military Unit Cover Designator (MUCD) for a Technical Reconnaissance Bureau (TRB). MUCD is a unique five-digit number used by the PLA to identify military units externally. The TRBs are a part of the Network Systems Department (NSD), the information and cyber warfare branch of the PLA. The NSD reports to officials who are a part amongst the newest specialised arm of the PLA and was brought into existence in 2015 when the PLA underwent a massive changeover. The mandate of the SSF is to fight in the realm of space, cyber, political, and electronic warfare. The TRBs that function under it carry out all activities related to cyber offence and defence.

Overall, there are at least 10 such TRBs spread across China, with each unit focusing on a set of different countries. Sources told The Sunday Guardian that each such TRB has specialised staff that are well versed in the language of the country, which they are required to focus on. For example, “Unit 78020” has people who are well versed in Hindi.