{"id":3994,"date":"2021-08-27T06:00:06","date_gmt":"2021-08-27T00:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/55nda.com\/blogs\/anil-khosla\/?p=3994"},"modified":"2024-12-27T16:07:08","modified_gmt":"2024-12-27T10:37:08","slug":"chinas-active-defence-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/55nda.com\/blogs\/anil-khosla\/2021\/08\/27\/chinas-active-defence-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"175: China\u2019s Active Defence Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #800000;\"><u>Genesis<\/u>. China\u2019s Active defence Strategy appeared first time in\u00a0 MAO\u2019s writings in the year 1936<\/span><span style=\"color: #800000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">. However, its meaning has been changing from time to time along with the war fighting philosophy of China.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #000080;\"><u>Changes in War Fighting Philosophy<\/u>. War fighting Philosophy of China has changed with the era of person in power. Over the years the changes are as follows:-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Mao Zedong<\/span> &#8211; Final War (with reference to world wars)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #003366;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Ding Xiaoping<\/span> &#8211; Local War (Shift from world war to limited wars)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #993366;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Jing Zemin<\/span> \u2013 Local war with Hi Technology.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #333399;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Hu Jintao<\/span> \u2013 Informatised Local War (Network centric war)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #800080;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Xi Jinping<\/span> \u2013 Informatised and intelligentised war (<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Unrestricted War<\/span><\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #800000;\"> &#8211; including elements of hybrid and unconventional warfare even in the Grey Zone)<\/span>.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #003300;\"><u>Initial Connotation<\/u>. When the idea was conceived initially it meant allowing the enemy to come into own territory, in area of own choice and up to pre decide depth. Allow the enemy\u2019s logistics supply lines get stretched out and dry down and at an opportune moment attack and defeat him. It was sort of offensive defence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #ff0000;\"><u>Present Framework<\/u>. China articulates its Active Defence response as:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #ff0000;\">\u201cChina would never invade or expand, at the same time would never permit any piece of Chinese territory to separate from China &amp; PLA will strike after enemy has attacked\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #000080;\"><u>Analysis &amp; Implications<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #993300;\">There is always a gap between what china preaches and practices. China although states that she will not expand, but is driven by the baser instinct of expansionism, considering herself as an empire state rather than nation state.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #003300;\">China decides as to what is part of China, by staking claims and producing conveniently select and doctored historical and legal documents.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #000080;\">China has left definition of enemy attack intentionally vague. It is not limited to military attack by kinetic means. It may include any action by the adversary which is against the interest of China.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #800000;\">In other words China decides what enemy attack is, and reserves the right to respond in a way it feels is appropriate.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;\">It means China will always have the initiative and will have the legitimacy (in her opinion) for her actions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #0000ff;\">China justifies her approach to this active defence strategy as <em>strategically defensive but operationally offensive.<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #ff0000;\">In tune with her war fighting philosophy of unrestricted warfare, the attack on enemy would be any domain (land, air, sea, cyber, space, electronic, information, psychological or even nuclear). It could use everything and anything as a weapon from the instruments of national power (DIME).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #800080;\">This strategy coupled with China\u2019s practiced strategic approach of <em>\u201cachieving objectives without firing a shot\u201d<\/em>, would mean that China would continue to perpetuate grey zone warfare (inclusive of hybrid and unconventional warfare).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #0000ff;\">China\u2019s formation of Strategic Support Force as a separate service, is in tune with the above mentioned strategy and actions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #800080;\"><u>Bottom Line<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #800080;\">\u00a0There is an urgent need for reorientation and gearing up (not only by military) to deal with these challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #ff0000;\"><u>Question<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #ff0000;\">Are we doing it?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;\"><u>YOUR SUGGESTIONS &amp; VIEWS ARE MOST WELCOME<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #993300;\">For regular updates, please register here<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"cWzAfDcPTN\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/55nda.com\/blogs\/anil-khosla\/subscribe\/\">Subscribe<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;Subscribe&#8221; &#8212; Air Marshal&#039;s Perspective\" src=\"https:\/\/55nda.com\/blogs\/anil-khosla\/subscribe\/embed\/#?secret=SQ3yL3ch9o#?secret=cWzAfDcPTN\" data-secret=\"cWzAfDcPTN\" width=\"525\" height=\"296\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Genesis. China\u2019s Active defence Strategy appeared first time in\u00a0 MAO\u2019s writings in the year 1936. However, its meaning has been changing from time to time along with the war fighting philosophy of China. &nbsp; Changes in War Fighting Philosophy. War fighting Philosophy of China has changed with the era of person in power. Over &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/55nda.com\/blogs\/anil-khosla\/2021\/08\/27\/chinas-active-defence-strategy\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;175: China\u2019s Active Defence Strategy&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,19,25,68,71,28,1,115],"tags":[179,24,47,67,46,52,60,40],"class_list":["post-3994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-airpower","category-article","category-china","category-geo-politics","category-grey-zone","category-technology","category-uncategorized","category-war-and-warfare","tag-active-defence","tag-china","tag-defence-services","tag-grey-zone","tag-higher-defence-organisation","tag-strategic-thinking","tag-warfare","tag-world-order"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/55nda.com\/blogs\/anil-khosla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/55nda.com\/blogs\/anil-khosla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/55nda.com\/blogs\/anil-khosla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/55nda.com\/blogs\/anil-khosla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/55nda.com\/blogs\/anil-khosla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3994"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/55nda.com\/blogs\/anil-khosla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8667,"href":"https:\/\/55nda.com\/blogs\/anil-khosla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3994\/revisions\/8667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/55nda.com\/blogs\/anil-khosla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/55nda.com\/blogs\/anil-khosla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/55nda.com\/blogs\/anil-khosla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}