China’s Hundred-Year Strategy

Beijing has a documented plan to be the premier global superpower by 2049. It’s over halfway there.

https://www.thetrumpet.com/14006-chinas-hundred-year-strategy

Americans think in four-year election cycles. Chinese leaders think in terms of centuries. Just leaf through the glossy, cream-colored, gold-flecked pages of The Governance of China. This anthology of political theories by Chinese President Xi Jinping is considered almost sacred scripture in Beijing.

Across 18 chapters about leading the most populous nation on the planet, Xi outlines his utopian vision for the Chinese people. In the world he describes, the Chinese are heirs to an ancient and unique civilization entitled to a privileged position among nations. In this world, China is an economic, cultural and military superpower, while the United States is no longer a major geopolitical power.

If the Chinese people dutifully follow the program their paramount leader has laid out in The Governance of China, Xi promises they can achieve what he terms the China Dream by the year 2049—exactly one century after the founding of the People’s Republic of China during the Chinese Communist Revolution.

Achieving the China Dream has become a trademark slogan of Xi’s administration since he first publicly uttered the phrase in a November 2012 speech. When Xi refers to the China Dream, however, he isn’t making empty political promises like so many Westerners assume. He is actually making a subtle reference to a geopolitical strategy. Nationalist hawks in the Chinese military have been pushing this strategy since the days of Chairman Mao Zedong.

A committee of 21 Chinese generals has sponsored the publication of a nine-book series titled Strategic Lessons From China’s Ancient Past. This series draws strategic lessons from China’s Warring States Period—an era between 475 and 221 b.c. when eight states warred against each other until they were conquered by the Qin dynasty. Many of the proverbs used in modern-day Chinese foreign policy originated during these struggles between states.

Perhaps the most famous proverb from this period is: Never ask the weight of the emperor’s cauldrons.

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Perhaps the most famous proverb from this period is: Never ask the weight of the emperor’s cauldrons.

Ancient Chinese legend says the Kingdom of Chu was rising while the Kingdom of Zhou was declining. The leader of Chu knew that the Zhou dynasty had nine cauldrons symbolizing its authority. These cauldrons would be removed when the emperor of Zhou lost the “Mandate of Heaven.” So, while the leader of Chu was reviewing his troops along with an ambassador from the declining Zhou dynasty, he couldn’t help but ask about the size of the Zhou emperor’s cauldrons. The ambassador from Zhou then scolded the leader of Chu for his impertinence. By asking the weight of the Zhou emperor’s cauldrons, he inadvertently revealed his true intention to challenge him—before the time was right for the “Mandate of Heaven” to be moved.

The lesson, in short: Don’t let your enemy know you’re his enemy until it’s too late for him to stop you.

During the Warring States Period, successful Chinese kingdoms often conquered rivals by inducing them into complacency. In some cases, rising challengers even duped the old emperor into unwittingly assisting their rise.

Based on this wisdom, the committee of generals has advised that the Chinese government should not challenge the U.S. by matching its military strength plane for plane, ship for ship. They advise China to hide its full strength until the “Mandate of Heaven” is officially moved.

By 2049, the Chinese economy is projected to be much larger than the U.S. economy—perhaps double or triple the size, according to some estimates. At that point, it will be easy to bring the Chinese military into compliance with the ancient Rites of Zhou by making it four times larger than America’s armed forces. Until then, China’s policy is to induce the old American emperor to sit back and enjoy the delicacies provided to him by his “loyal” Chinese allies!