With the lab leak theory gaining mainstream exposure, it's time to review Unrestricted Warfare (1999), written by two Chinese PLA colonels, which is effectively a manual on how to defeat the United States.
A thread. /1
When published, the authors concluded that unparalleled US conventional military might would force enemies to pursue other forms of warfare, i.e. non-conventional. This was also a point made by Kilcullen: enemies would resort to terrorism instead of a conventional war /2
After Desert Storm, war was redefined from "the use of armed force to compel the enemy to submit to one's will" to "using all means, including armed force or non-armed force, military + non-military, and lethal + non-lethal means to compel the enemy to accept one's interests." /3
"To compel the enemy to accept one's interests" -- this is the Chinese understanding of war: by any means necessary.
"Unrestricted warfare," therefore, is defined as "non-war actions... constituting future warfare... which transcends all boundaries and limits." /4
The authors point out the US military reliance on new technology, which almost always causes more problems that it solves.
They also describe the myopic view of war held by Americans, largely as tanks and bombs, instead of "non-war actions" that can be used for war. /5
The authors argue that China should develop new weapons: earthquakes, tsunamis, weather disasters, or "new biological and chemical weapons" that can be characterized as "non-war" but still used to prosecute a real war. /6
The authors point out that literally anything can be weaponized, including "a man-made stock market crash, a single computer virus invasion, or a single rumor of scandal," even "media weapons" that can disrupt an adversary. /7
This revolution in military affairs will produce weapons that will control, not kill, in order "to force the enemy to serve one's own interests." /8
In other words, the Chinese method of war would include subduing the enemy by forcing him to pursue his own self-interests (i.e., survival) instead of his geopolitical or strategic goals (i.e., protecting Taiwan). /9
"use all means whatsoever -- means that involve the force of arms and means that do not involve the force of arms, means that involve military power and means that do not involve military power, means that entail casualties and means that do no entail casualties" /10
War will increasingly be fought by hackers resulting in "practically no bloodshed."
"[W]arfare no longer is an exclusive imperial garden where professional soldiers alone can mingle." /11
The authors spend considerable time on "a new concept of weapons," again: anything can be used as a weapon of war, and most weaponized things won't be considered war by the Americans.
And here we are. /12
They point out that the USSR spent so much money on the military tech race that it collapsed. The US is following in the same footsteps, write the authors, because there is no end to the tech race. At least in 1999, they saw this in America's future. Prepare accordingly. /fin
Cc: @JavierGoya7
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