Ancient Chinese Precedents in China's National Defense

摘要

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the strategy embodied in China's 1998 White Paper titled China's National Defense and compare it with the strategic concepts contained in a number of military classics from ancient china. The assumption is that since China's political and military leaders state openly that their strategy is based on traditional Chinese strategic concepts, a study of ancient classics on strategy may provide a deeper understanding of the strategy embodied in china's National Defense. Such an understanding will be of value to United States military strategists as they deal with the China of today and tomorrow. The results of this study did find ancient precedents in the strategy outlined by China's National Defense. The most prevalent strategic precedents include the concepts of: gaining popular support for the national government, pursuing economic development to satisfy the population, developing a strong military to deter/defeat internal and external threats, and preferring the use of peaceful means to solve conflicts rather than using military force.