By Ming Zhang
If China should engage in warfare sometime in the future, should it employ Western methods of war and should it be bound by Western "rules of war"? The highly provocative answer from two Chinese military officers is "no."
In the 1990s, high-tech weapons seem to have reshaped the way wars will be fought in the future. The Gulf War in 1991 against Iraq and NATO’s air war earlier this year against Serbia demonstrated the power of a new generation of Western weaponry and theory. Western methods of war—often called the "Revolution in Military Affairs"—seem to have triumphed.
But two senior Chinese air force colonels are not so sure. In early 1996, Qiao Liang and Wang Xianghui participated in the massive Chinese military exercises aimed at intimidating Taiwan during the runup to that island’s first presidential elections. In turn, the exercises prompted the United States to send two aircraft carrier groups to the area as a demonstration of military might.
Later, the colonels met in a small town in southeastern China’s Fujian Province and pondered China’s military weakness compared to the United States. How could China defend itself against a nation that powerful—if it ever needed to?
The result: a co-authored book, Chao Xian Zhan: Dui Quanqiu Hua Shidai Zhanzheng yu Zhanfa de Xiangding (Warfare Beyond Rules: Judgment of War and Methods of War in the Era of Globalization), published by the People’s Liberation Army Art Press in February. The central premise: If China ever has to defend itself, it should be prepared to conduct "warfare beyond all boundaries and limitations."
The existing rules of war, according to Qiao and Wang, include a body of international laws and agreements developed over the decades by Western powers. As for methods of war, there is a kind of worship in much of the developed world of high technology and new weapons, areas in which the United States has a clear lead. But what is "right" for the United States, the authors say, may not be appropriate for China.
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