A ‘New Way Of War’ From China?

Bates Gill and Adam Ni, The Conversation: Is it time for a ‘new way of war?’ What China’s army reforms mean for the rest of the world

The ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu once said,

Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.

Looking at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) today, it’s hard to say which of these tactics is most germane.

Getting the answer right will have enormous consequences for the United States and the future of the Indo-Pacific region. Underestimating the PLA breeds complacency and risks costly overreach. Overestimating the Chinese military grants it unwarranted advantage.

Similarly, for the Chinese leadership, miscalculating its military capability could lead to disaster.

As such, any serious appraisal of Chinese military power has to take the PLA’s progress – as well as its problems – into account. This was the focus of a recent study we undertook, along with retired US Army lieutenant colonel Dennis Blasko, for the Australian Department of Defence.

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WNU Editor: China's concerns that its military lacks war-fighting experience are justified. My father who fought in the Second World War and who studied war told me repeatedly a military that had experience in fighting wars would always overcome and defeat a far bigger foe who did not. This experience is what make the U.S and European armies formidable foes today. In the case of China, their military leadership, NCOs, etc., have had no experience on what fighting a war would look like, with the exception of one, the Sino-Vietnam war in 1979. This inexperience will definitely be costly to China in any major conflict that it may find itself in, even with a "new way of war".

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