Chinese Active Defense and Strategic Deception

The following is an excerpt from the 2006 Annual Report to the US Congress on the Military Power of the People's Republic of China.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/2006/2006-prc-military-power03.htm

Two interesting pieces.

• Active Defense defined
  "The 'active defense guideline posits a defensive military strategy and asserts that China does not initiate wars or fight wars of aggression, but engages in war only to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity...Beijing’s definition of an attack against its territory, or what constitutes an initial attack, is too vague to clarify matters to outsiders, however, in cases where Chinese use of force involves core interests, such as sovereignty or territorial claims (including Taiwan), Beijing could claim military preemption as a strategically defensive act...This logic could also add ambiguity to the dimension of China’s policy of 'no first use' of nuclear weapons."

• Strategic Deception
  The writings of Master Sun make an appearance again. Recent Chinese doctrinal materials define the goals of strategic deception as “to lure the other side into developing misperceptions . . . and to [establish for oneself] a strategically advantageous position by producing various kinds of false phenomena in an organized and planned manner with the smallest cost in manpower and materials.”
  
  

The Chinese Way (from an Indian perspective)

The following 2007 Indian Defense Review article is a long, but detailed analysis of China's modern growth and potential future ambitions under Communist leadership.
http://www.indiandefencereview.com/2007/01/the-chinese-way.html

Here are two interesting points.

• A nation's global strategy can be captured in a formula.
  “Global objectives + means to be taken to achieve the objectives”
  (strength × guiding principle or policy)
• Deng Xiaoping advised future Chinese leaders to lean heavily on Sun Tzu's principles, including the following.
  Tao guang yang hui (lit. hide brightness, nourish obscurity) that actually means “to hide one’s capacity and bide one’s time.” The word tao also means ‘the art of war.’ Taolüe, literally ‘the strategy of concealing’ means ‘military strategy.’
  
  Bu chu tou (lit. don’t stick your head out) implies ‘never be the leader.’ That means China should keep a low profile, hiding its true features and intentions.
  

Ancient wisdom from Sun Tzu

Let's start this blog off with some ancient wisdom from Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

Strategic Assessments
- Military action is important to the nation--it is the ground of death and life, the path of survival and destruction, so it is imperative to study it.

- Attack when they are unprepared, make your move when they do not expect it.

Emptiness and Fullness
- Those who are first on the battlefield and await the opponents are at ease; those who are last on the battlefield and head into battle get worn out.

- What causes opponents to come of their own accord is the prospect of gain. What discourages opponents from coming is the prospect of harm.

- Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate.