July 31, 1999
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| July 31, 1999 | atimes.com | |
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| China CHINA FOR REAL: A declaration of 'no limits' war By Bradley Martin Asia Times Online In a book that's sending chills down the spines of even some of their fellow Chinese, two up-and-coming air force officers argue that the best way for a weaker country like China to defeat the U.S. superpower is to throw away the gentlemanly rules of warfare. The two advise embracing underhanded tactics such as computer hacking and terrorism - including what they term ''financial terrorism,'' modeled on George Soros's lucrative assault on the British pound. Their premise - chilling enough in itself - is that war is bound to come sooner or later. As populous China strengthens, it will consume even more of the world's resources than the United States does. When someone's pie grows bigger, someone else's has to shrink, the officers say matter-of-factly, so there will have to be a war. In preparing for war, senior colonels Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui say in ''No-Limit Warfare'' (published by the military), China should remember its enormous casualties in the Korean War and avoid going head to head on the battlefield. Terrorism is more ''humane,'' because it achieves the same end with far fewer casualties. The U.S., as shown most recently in the Kosovo war, fears casualties. Thus it uses huge amounts of money to produce absurdly expensive technology, with which victory can be won even as casualties are minimized. It would be a sucker's game for China or any other country to try to compete on American terms, the officers argue. Better to take advantage of the fact that the U.S., as the established power, has made rules that it must observe itself. China or another weaker country can plan to throw away the rules and fight dirty, with reasonable confidence that the U.S. would not do so first. ''All strong countries make rules, while all rising ones break them and exploit loopholes,'' Qiao told a frankly horrified interviewer for Qingnian Bao, a Beijing daily newspaper sponsored by the China Youth League. ''Barbarians always rise by breaking the rules of civilized and developed countries, which is what human history is all about.'' Qiao argued that Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Yugoslavia's Milosevich had been mistaken not to use hostages as human shields to deter bombing, instead of playing by the rules. ''No-limit'' warfare would combine the full gamut of tactics, including biochemical, diplomatic, trade, psychological, resource, urban guerrilla and atomic warfare. And obviously others have thought of something like it before. What's catchy about Qiao and Wang's theory is that they bring in such up-to-the-minute tactics as hacking and financial terrorism. Part of the beauty of hacking, as they see it, is that its most skilled practitioners often are citizens of weaker countries - some of the worst havoc having been inflicted recently by a Taiwanese. As for financial terrorism, the two military thinkers credit or blame Soros for the Asian financial crisis. China isn't rich as nations go, they note - but why couldn't it come up with $100 billion to go after an unprepared rival's financial system? The book is having impact. One general is quoted as calling it ''the only book that I have read straight through in many years.'' A footnote: Qiao, who does his armchair strategizing in the literature department of the air force political department, is something of a Chinese Tom Clancy. A few years ago he wrote ''Gate to the Last Days,'' described as ''the first new-age military fantasy novel.'' | |||||||||
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