Global Security, Privacy, & Risk Management

Covid19: “The War God’s Face Has Become Indistinct” – China’s Unlimited Warfare Strategy April 14, 2020

UPDATE-  Today (April 15, 2020) Fox News published an article supporting what has been proposed in this post.  Titled“Sources believe coronavirus originated in Wuhan lab as part of China’s efforts to compete with US the article lays out compelling evidence that China was attempting demonstrate that China’s “…efforts to identify and combat viruses are equal too or greater than capabilities of the United States.” The article states that evidence comes from classified, and open source sources and documents.  It further states that:

“…(China) blaming the wet market was an effort by China to deflect blame from the laboratory, along with China’s propaganda efforts targetting the US and Italy.”

For those who have not read Unrestricted Warfare referenced in this post, I would strongly suggest you consider reading.  The Fox News article is directly in line with China’s 1999 strategy of unlimited warfare against the US and European countries.

In 2013, I wrote an article for The Counter Terrorist  Magazine that identified the Chinese strategy of CyberWarfare. You can read the article here.

This followed a seperate article I wrote for the same magazine called “CyberEspionage” that identified China’s efforts to infiltrate the US.  Both identify the Chinese focus on unlimited warfare discussed below.

Today, while reading the news, I came across an article that stated that stated that the US State Department cables (read CIA and Intelligence) has stated that the Covid19 Virus may have originated the Wuhan Viral Lab (WVL) who were testing the Coronavirus in bats.  According to the Washington Post:“

“As many have pointed out, there is no evidence that the virus now plaguing the world was engineered; scientists largely agree it came from animals. But that is not the same as saying it didn’t come from the lab, which spent years testing bat coronaviruses in animals, said Xiao Qiang, a research scientist at the School of Information at the University of California at Berkeley.”

No “Evidence” is distinctly different than “They did not do it”.  Keep in mind that in February, 2020, the US Government charged 4 Chinese Military members with the 2017 Equifax breach.

The question should be: “why would the Chinese launch viruses (if they did) and why would they hack US companies?”  The answer is actually pretty straightforward.   If you read the article from 2012, you will get much more information than in this blog post.

In 1990 the US engaged the Iraqi military in the Gulf War.  The Russians (then Soviets) and Chinese watched closely as the US went literally “toe to toe” with the World’s 5th largest standing Army (Iraqi).  96 hours later, the Iraqi Army was soundly defeated.  In particular was the Battle of Medina Ridge (also called the Battle of 73 Easting) fought on Feb 27, 1991. It was an absolute route. This convinced the Chinese that a “linear/kinetic war” with the US was unwinnable.

For this reason they embarked upon a new policy called “Unlimited/Unrestricted warfare”.

This is documented in the book called Unrestricted Warfare.  In first reading the document, I was shocked at what it contained.  In 1999, two Chinese Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) Colonels were tasked to write a document titled: Unrestricted Warfare that outlines China’s approach to war with the West.   In short, the document articulates a new definition of warfare that includes using all economic, political, and PR means to fight ‘sub wars’ and ‘pseudo wars’.

While we sit in the US laboring under our definition of warfare, our adversaries are redefining the battlespace.  Here are some quotes from the document:

“If we acknowledge that the new principles of war are no longer “using armed force to compel the enemy to submit to one’s will,” but rather are “using all means including armed force and non-armed force, military and non-military, lethal and non-lethal means to compel the enemy to accept one’s interests.”[i]

“As we see it, a single man-made stock-market crash, a single computer virus invasion, or a single rumor or scandal that results in a fluctuation in the enemy country’s exchange rates or exposes the leaders of an enemy country on the Internet, all can be included in the ranks of new-concept weapons.”[i]