China aims to become the Middle East’s “digital arbiter” by building cheap data networks and providing surveillance software to autocratic regimes—all in a bid to boost its regional influence, the U.S. military’s top communications official in the region said Tuesday. “These are the things from an IT standpoint, that provide the damage to us in this region,” said Brig. Gen. Tina Boyd, the director of command and control, communications, and computer systems for U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM. Boyd said that while that doesn’t present a direct military threat, it’s not something that the United States military can afford to…