Sun tzu
1) Biography and Main Works:
Sun Tzu was an ancient Chinese general, military strategist, writer, and philosopher who lived during the Eastern Zhou period. Sun Tzu, as he is commonly known, is an honorific name that means “Master Sun.” The earliest available sources differ on where Sun Tzu was born. Sun Tzu was born in Qi, according to the Spring and Autumn Annals and Sima Qian’s later Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji). Both sources also agree that Sun Tzu was born in the late Spring and Autumn period and that he served King Helü of Wu as a general and strategist in the late sixth century BC, beginning around 512 BC. Sun Tzu’s victories prompted him to pen The Art of War. The Art of War was one of the most widely read military treatises during the Warring States period, when seven ancient Chinese states – Zhao, Qi, Qin, Chu, Han, Wei, and Yan – fought for control of a vast expanse of fertile territory in Eastern China.
One of the more well-known Sun Tzu stories, taken from Sima Qian, exemplifies Sun Tzu’s temperament as follows: Before hiring Sun Tzu, the King of Wu put his skills to the test by commissioning him to train a harem of 180 concubines into soldiers. Sun Tzu divided them into two companies, appointing as company commanders the two concubines most beloved by the king. They laughed when Sun Tzu first told the concubines to face right. In response, Sun Tzu stated that it was the general’s responsibility, in this case himself, to ensure that soldiers understood the commands given to them. The concubines giggled again as he repeated the command. To the king’s chagrin, Sun Tzu then ordered the execution of the king’s two favorite concubines. He explained that it was the officers’ fault if the general’s soldiers understood but did not obey their commands. Sun Tzu also stated that once a general was appointed, it was his responsibility to complete his mission, even if the king objected. Following the assassination of both concubines, new officers were appointed to replace them. Following that, both companies, now well aware of the consequences of further frivolity, executed their maneuvers flawlessly. Sima Qian claimed that Sun Tzu later demonstrated on the battlefield that his theories were effective, that he had a successful military career, and that he wrote The Art of War based on his tested expertise.
2) Main Themes in his Work:
The emphasis of Sun Tzu’s book, surprisingly, is not on carrying out a physical campaign, but on strategizing and planning before embarking on one. The most important aspect of any campaign is not the actions of the troops on the field or the size of the force that is entering enemy territory, but the checks and balances that take place long before the first action in the campaign itself. The decision to go to war must be based on a reason, an objective, or a thought process; it cannot be a knee-jerk reaction to an event or an unplanned attempt to seize power in another territory. Before he is a soldier or a general, a good Warlord is a planner.
Subterfuge is a recurring theme in each of The Art of War’s chapters. It is almost more important for a Warlord’s success to defeat the enemy with his mind before attempting to defeat him physically. It is critical to project an image of your own forces to the enemy, even if the image is false. From making your troops appear to be heading east when they are actually heading west, to making any disadvantage appear to be deliberate, the emphasis is on out-thinking and “snowing” the enemy long before the Warlord attempts to out-fight them. The good Warlord also invades a territory by stealth wherever possible, so that the territory does not realize it has been invaded.
There are numerous references in the book to acting with one’s heart and soul completely aligned. A Warlord who does everything with his heart and soul fully invested in it will eventually be successful because he is harnessing the power of the Heavens by putting forth this completeness of effort; with the Heavens on his side, he cannot fail. It is also critical for troops to be equally committed. It is explained early in the book that a man who is constantly looking for the next job or the next promotion will not be properly committed with both heart and soul to the job that he is currently assigned to do. Putting one’s heart and soul into a task guarantees success because it is done with the best of intentions.
3) His Influence on Contemporary China:
Sun Tzu wrote 2,500 years ago during the agricultural age, but his words have remained relevant throughout the industrial and information ages. When it comes to security, Japan’s top strategic concern is China, and we can’t talk about Chinese strategy without first discussing Sun Tzu. Because all Chinese military personnel appear to have memorized Sun Tzu, Chinese strategy may be based on The Art of War. Except for Xi Jinping, all Central Military Commission members are generals and admirals who have memorized his entire work. Even though the PLA’s weapons and tactics are not as sophisticated as those of the major Western powers, this comprehensive strategy—which includes nonmilitary means—is brilliant, and we must understand how China has adopted Sun Tzu for its modern strategy.
The Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission endorsed the concept of “three warfares” in 2003, reflecting China’s recognition that as a global actor, it would benefit from learning to use public opinion tools, particularly during the early stages of a crisis, as these tools tend to bolster one another. For psychological, media, and legal warfare, the PLA issued 100 examples each. Sun Tzu was mentioned 30 times in psychological warfare examples, 6 times in media warfare examples, and 3 times in legal warfare examples. The most cited phrase (from chapter 3) is “To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill,” which appears 10 times. The next most repeated phrase (from chapter 1) is “All warfare is based on deception,” appearing half a dozen times.
From 2003 to 2009, the PLA International Relations Academy in Nanjing studied disintegration warfare. Then, in 2010, Disintegration Warfare was published by a PLA publisher. The cover of Disintegration Warfare features a quote from Chapter 3 of The Art of War: “To subdue the enemy without fighting is the pinnacle of skill.” Politics, economy, culture, psychology, military threats, conspiracy, media propaganda, law, information, and intelligence are all part of the concept of disintegration warfare. All of these ideas are clearly based on Sun Tzu’s concepts of deception, disruption, and subduing the enemy without fighting. For the first time since its inception, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Ministers of Foreign Affairs Conference was unable to issue a joint communiqué in 2012 due to China’s massive economic assistance to Cambodia, the conference’s chair country. ASEAN’s tighter coordination on the South China Sea issue does not benefit China. As a result, China resorted to disintegration warfare in an attempt to destabilize the ASEAN alliance through economic manipulation. China has used a variety of methods, including historical issues during WWII, to divide the United States and Japan.
Published In two PLA colonels’ book, Unrestricted Warfare, published in 1999, the term was redefined from “using armed force to compel the enemy to submit to one’s will” to “using all means, including armed force or non-armed force, military and non-military, and lethal and non-lethal means to compel the enemy to accept one’s interests.” Trade war, financial war, a new terror war, and ecological war are all examples of non-armed force. 9 Concerning the trade war, China prohibited rare-earth mineral exports to Japan after a Chinese fishing boat skipper was apprehended near Senkaku in September 2010. When Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2010, Beijing reduced its imports of Norwegian salmon. When the two countries clashed over Scarborough Shoal in 2012, China also reduced banana imports from the Philippines. Qiao and Wang quote Sun Tzu in part two of their book A Discussion of New Methods of Operation: “As water has no constant form, there are no constant conditions in war. Thus, one who is able to win by changing his tactics in response to the enemy situation is said to be divine” (The Art of War, chapter 6). According to the United States Secretary of Defense’s annual report to Congress, Military Power of the People’s Republic of China (2009), China’s leaders emphasize asymmetric strategies to leverage their advantages while exploiting the perceived vulnerabilities of potential opponents through so-called “assassin’s mace” programmes.
Overall, Sun Tzu has and continues to heavily influence contemporary Chinese strategy, emphasizing everything from deception to espionage.
