“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Digesting and accepting all the scary stories in the western mainstream press regarding China, could send anyone to the store for ammo and seeds, while calling their favorite bunker dealer for a fallout shelter.
The fable tells great mythologies of thousand ship modern navies, sixth generation fighter aircraft, space weapons, hypersonic nuclear missiles and a standing army of infinite soldiers, of course, all trained in kung fu at the Shaolin Temple.
Just look at the Belt and Road projects globally, spreading Chinese development power to the four corners, if you look past the angry Africans, Indonesian, Central Asians waking up to a swath of shoddy, failing projects underwritten on bank terms that would make a payday loan CEO blush.
The formula of the lore is always the same:
- The Chinese think long term.
- The Chinese have 1.4 billion (they don’t) and will eventually lead at everything.
- Their armed forces are on track to match ours.
Cut. That’s a wrap.
And yes, tune in tomorrow for more of the same.
Brought to you by your favorite defense contractors and private equity firms.
If we look beyond the headlines and think tank Ph.Ds., a very different picture of China emerges.
Primary sources are always best, and this writer is blessed to have a few still on the mainland.
A healthy knowledge of Chinese history, language, and culture, along with an understanding of how to interpret the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) state media, is a great starting point.
One gains much insight.
Additionally, doing so invites a journey taking you deeper into the mighty dragon's cave.
Just a cursory glance at the protests in China, social media posts when they are still up and running, and the outrage across the miraculous Belt and Road will give you a whiff that the "China is an un-slayable monster" is a ruse.
Washington D.C. aka "the swamp" needs an enemy.
During the Cold War, life was easy, discarding the occasional nuclear missile threat, we had one big enemy (Russia), and lots of little insurgencies to keep the intelligence community urchins busy.
The giant dragon replaced the bear as the required enemy.
One trillion dollars for the Department of War?
It's a small price to pay. Because China.
The truth is, China, the CCP, and the PLA are a hot mess.
They are nowhere near the status of serving as America's boogey man.
Xi Jinping has all but guaranteed that he is the last emperor of the Mao Dynasty.
Since he kicked party norms to the curb, crowning himself as ruler for life, Xi quickly purged his rivals and channeled Mao in a modern version of the Culture Revolution, only millions more died if you count COVID-19 as a recipe ingredient.
Mao 2.0 destroyed the economy, destroyed the people's savings, ran off foreign investment, bullied his neighbors, and exported COVID-19 to the world.
On the precipice of bankrupting the entire nation after real estate meltdowns, factory shutdowns (in the thousands), inability to meet civil service payroll, and now the Trump tariffs in full force, the party elders (Hu Jintao & Wen Jibao), top General (Zhang Youxia) and the people themselves, have the long knives out for a Xi Jinping who is in failing health, mired in scandals, and defiant on stepping down.
Since November 2024 when Xi military loyalist Admiral Miao Hua was arrested, a cold civil war has raged on, while the Chinese people grow in courage and the CCP factions grapple for control, the defining Fourth Plenum, the party congress meeting on Oct. 20-23 draws near.
Who will emerge as China's leader?
If Xi and what's left of his gang prevails, surely the rivals will face dark outcomes.
So, there is no threat?
Not so fast.
Remember the open borders of the Biden four years?
China exported thousands of PLA operatives into the U.S. along with all the other terror groups from Iran, Venezuela and others which are embedded now in all our communities.
On order, China can activate these cells and hurt America badly, almost fatally with attack on the population, grid, water, and banking.
So, before we get upset about the National Guard coming to Mainstreet, understand, there may be more to it.
China is a threat.
Buying another aircraft carrier here in the U.S. won't do much but investing in lines of effort that complete the demise of the CCP and Xi through smart, whole of government, or fifth generation warfare, policies will pull the plug on the party.
We have no choice.
The threat posed here at home isn't trivial.
From their farmland bases and their allegiances to terror groups as well as the bought and paid for politicians, we are at risk.
Mao’s dynasty has reached its zenith. Better we plan around the truth than some fanciful story designed to prop up defense stocks.
China’s secret is that they are falling apart.
Brig Gen (ret) Blaine Holt is a former Deputy Representative to NATO, lifetime member on the Council on Foreign Relations, tech entrepreneur and Newsmax Contributor. The views presented are those of the author and do not represent the views of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, or its components. Read Gen. Holt's reports — More Here.
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