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Unrestricted Warfare: China's Master Plan to Destroy America Paperback – November 10, 2015

by Qiao Liang (Author), Wang Xiangsui (Author)

4.5 1,679 ratings

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A sobering and fascinating study on war in the modern era, Unrestricted Warfare carefully explores strategies that militarily and politically disadvantaged nations might take in order to successfully attack a geopolitical super-power like the United States. American military doctrine is typically led by technology; a new class of weapon or vehicle is developed, which allows or encourages an adjustment in strategy. Military strategists Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui argue that this dynamic is a crucial weakness in the American military, and that this blind spot with regard to alternative forms warfare could be effectively exploited by enemies. Unrestricted Warfare concerns the many ways in which this might occur, and, in turn, suggests what the United States might do to defend itself.

The traditional mentality that offensive action is limited to military action is no longer adequate given the range of contemporary threats and the rising costs-both in dollars and lives lost-of traditional warfare. Instead, Liang and Xiangsui suggest the significance of alternatives to direct military confrontation, including international policy, economic warfare, attacks on digital infrastructure and networks, and terrorism. Even a relatively insignificant state can incapacitate a far more powerful enemy by applying pressure to their economic and political systems. Exploring each of these considerations with remarkable insight and clarity, Unrestricted Warfare is an engaging evaluation of our geopolitical future.

For a more durable Echo Point Books hardcover edition of Unrestricted Warfare please search ISBN 1626543062.

Print length

212 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Echo Point Books & Media
Publication date

November 10, 2015
Dimensions

6 x 0.45 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1626543054
ISBN-13

978-1626543058
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Echo Point Books & Media; Reprint ed. edition (November 10, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 212 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1626543054
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1626543058
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.45 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #18,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #10 in Terrorism (Books)
- #22 in National & International Security (Books)
- #136 in Engineering (Books)

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fitzalling

Globalization greatly increases leverage over opponents

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2024

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I'm trying to learn more about China. This book was referenced in a book I read by U.S. General Spalding entitled "War Without Rules." The book was written by two Chinese PLA colonels and published in 1999 so it's about a quarter century old. According to General Spalding the book has been read and considered within the U.S. military. I have the paperback and it's 193 pages, not including a short afterword and some information on the authors' backgrounds. It reads fairly well although I did encounter a few places where I wasn't entirely sure what the book was trying to say. I don't know if this was due to translation challenges or it was just me. I got through the book fairly quickly.

My main takeaway was that globalization has offers a potential opponent many more levers to influence the actions of others than simply resorting to kinetic (bombs and bullets) warfare. Economic warfare is certainly possible and in the colonels' view has been resorted to by the West against Asian targets. They view George Soros as a financial terrorist who wreaked havoc on Asian economies in 1998. They describe Soros as a soldier in the wars of tomorrow. Page 191.

The inspiration for the book was the First Gulf War. The lesson that the colonels drew from this war was that it was inadvisable to fight the U.S. in a straight-up kinetic war. Finding other ways to fight the U.S. was mandatory. As I write this in January 2024 I wonder if the Chinese military will follow the colonels or if they will resort to traditional kinetic means of fighting if their leadership decides to take Taiwan.
On page 120 they describe the new model of warfare as combining the battlefield and non-battlefield exemplified by Schwarzkopf and Soros and Bin Laden and some Chinese that I don't recognize. As they say on page 120 "This then is our real hand of cards."
The book also cites a number of Chinese theorists on war, which I think I useful. I've read fairly widely, but my reading has been focused in the West. Also, the authors look at international bodies and how China might use them against the U.S.

On page 164 the book argues that warfare is changing from "bloody massacre" and finding expression in "information warfare, financial warfare, and trade warfare". Look at the U.S. response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The colonels' thoughts are worthy of consideration. On page 110 the book observes "continuous coverage by the modern media which very much strengthens the effects of terrorism."

If the topic interests you, I recommend the book. The book may be 25 years old, but its message is timely.

4 people found this helpful

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Oscar C.

Major Scoure, DOD writings, high ranking officials

Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2024

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It’s amazing that most sources are our own DOD documents and books written by high ranking US officials

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Albert

Intriguing Challenges and Overblown Rhetoric

Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2022

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This is a useful book to read. The principles of warfare advocated by Sun Tzu say that you must know both yourself and your enemy. This book shows that modern American society is known by the Chinese military. As an exercise in cultural self-understanding alone, reading it pays dividends.

However, the topic is strategy. The words used can be relatively confusing at times, not quite embodying the meaning given to them by the authors. Unlimited...but within limits. Unrestricted...but following rules. It can be a bit of a struggle to follow their train of thought and understand their meaning (especially with the writing style, which lacks clarity or organization). Despite this I think it is worth struggling with, and especially with a broad overview of some of the argument to assist. Such a board overview follows.

The main point: the United States is prone to think in a manner which intrinsically restricts the conduct of warfare to only a formal military domain; thus it abstracts military action from its location in social domains (politics, economy, information, etc). This fits rather well. We like things to be formulas or mechanistic. We also like to abstract them away into separate ("rigidly distinct") boxes which have no interaction. And so, the military is responsible for military problems and better stay far from anything approaching politics! However, as the authors reveal, this leads to an inability to conduct grander strategy in warfare.

So instead: "unrestricted" warfare is to have strategy incorporate considerations (and interactions) within various domains, not only the military domain. Basically it is a rejection of the post-Westphalian concept of the nation-state as the supreme (and exclusive) kind of agent in strategy. This is good. The post-Westphalian idea of the nation-state may be useful in certain contexts and for certain purposes, but it is NOT the comprehensive reality of the universe. To treat it as such is to be blind to much of reality, and to live in a fantasy world. Does North Korea really care that it is "unrecognized" as a nation by us? Nope. Because the nation-state idea simply doesn't describe the order in which NK exists, so much as it describes the order in which Germany exists.

This is all well and good. But is it truly revolutionary or new? I don't think so. Clausewitz himself writes that there is no military situation abstracted from the political situation, and politics (in this sense) involves much more than just inter-governmental relations. Rather, I think that we can treat this as a corrective against modern American oversimplifications and reductions, and thus as a "return" to older concepts of strategy and statesmanship. Indeed, they even imitate and follow Clausewitz's guidance on method for determining a theory of warfare which is inductive/a posteriori, rather than deductive/a priori. Unfortunately, the one "modern" example of a war they have to analyze is the Gulf War, and so they relentlessly analyze it alone, perhaps leading to imbalance.

And here is where the rhetoric is overblown. This is no "master plan" to destroy America (false advertising). It's not even really new concepts. Rather, it is a (very) forceful reminder against the false (and harmful) modernist sentiments that prevail in America's mode of conducting warfare. In reference to false understandings, the authors actually accuse Americans of "touching the elephant" - an allusion to the tale of "blind men and the elephant" (although this allusion is not made clear in the text, and so is confusing if you have not heard of the tale). It is a parable about believing one has the absolute truth, while only having a limited perspective. Perhaps the authors also touch the elephant in a few ways (bias for helicopters without empirical evidence, a near-religious adoration of the golden ratio, etc.).

There's a final point of balance that is perhaps needed. It is easy to either dismiss the Chinese critiques of American society ("we don't worship tech") or take them too seriously ("tech is evil"). Either reaction is problematic. Instead we need to understand that just as in some other areas, there is a rhetorical/political purpose at play. America is being made fun of (which means that the critiques are both based in reality, but also somewhat biased for the sake of local humor). Technology is not evil, and technology is not God. So we need to learn to avoid seeing technological advancement as a replacement for people (this is the error the authors would like to point out). This doesn't mean avoiding technological advancement.

There are many lessons to be learned from this book. I'd advise it for all military officers to read. However, I also would advise to temper the expectations and reframe the reader's conception of what the book is: it is an exercise in recovery of some older strategic concepts, not a revolutionary approach to destroying the United States. Get past and ignore the rhetoric and advertising, and take the lessons where they make valid points about where we can be short-sighted in our mindset. But don't discount those lessons because of the wild rhetoric and advertising which surround them. Doing this, you will profit.

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Fernando J. Padilla

Léelo si quieres saber qué pretende China

Reviewed in Spain on February 10, 2024

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En pocas páginas, el libro describe los pasos que China ha dado, y sigue dando, para desbancar a los Estados Unidos como la primera potencia mundial.

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Industrias Parabellum

Unrestricted warfare

Reviewed in Mexico on January 26, 2021

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Libro demasiado interesante. Indispensable para entender el mundo de hoy en día

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Jim Dowdell

The subtitle tells you to wake up, the rest of the book tells you what you will find when you do.

Reviewed in Canada on September 1, 2020

Verified Purchase

Are we at war?
After reading this book the question gains much more validity. Few people on the left or the on the right can deny that we are undergoing an historic level of “interesting times”. But looking for prime causes, and evidence is a daunting task. The attacks on our society seem to be hidden in the fog of media bias and restrictions on free speech.
This new phenomenon of a mainstream media managed by ideological forces would not appear to be a war attack by foreign interests. Who in the world would do such a destructive thing? But those who pay attention can see the changes even over the last twenty years since this book was written.
The social engineering, the grade school propaganda, the cult attacks on “carbon”, the renewed tribalism of identity groups, the attempt to discredit and destroy the civilian police forces (to be replaced by troops and private security), the crazy proliferation of regulations impacting every minute of our lives, the collapse of family and church influence, the blatant corruption and enrichment of the ruling class and leviathan corporations; this is just the most brazen evidence that the situation is not “normal”.
This partial list of currant events is not even discussed by the ruling class. The justice system and intelligence powers have been weaponized against all who are trying to save freedom in our western civilization. Every level of government seems to be infiltrated by a hostile ideology. The people with power seem to have increasing hatred of the middle class and the system that created it. Special interest groups are running amok as they try to “burn it all down” and the rulers are complicit with this law breaking – except when people try to protect their property. An observer fresh from outer space would wonder why a civilization that has created so much seems so willing to throw it all away.
When you read Unrestricted Warfare all this will come into sharp focus. Do not read this as a bedtime story. The subtitle tells you to wake up, the rest of the book tells you what you will find when you do.

9 people found this helpful

Andrew Harrison

Theory behind a new way to wage war

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 23, 2021

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These visionary military officers theorised how to make an end run around the current geopolitical hegemonic power with unrestricted watefare, extending the battlefield into culture, media, biological cyber and outer space. Current events suggest this is no longer mere theory and the method seems to be working.

2 people found this helpful

Kewal Bhatnagar

A must read for those interested in international politics.

Reviewed in India on July 16, 2020

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A very good book for those interested in international affairs.

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