Lingering lessons from a warmonger

[xchrom]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/MF30Ad01.html

BEIJING - Can peace win a war? That is, can peaceful methods prevail over traditional military measures in confrontations? This is not an issue to be discussed in the next Woodstock peaceniks' session of some newly established Association of Flower Children; it is the lingering question in the latest book by a man defined as a notorious warmonger and yet also a Nobel Peace laureate: former United States secretary of state Henry Kissinger.
Kissinger's answer to this question - which according to Western strategic tradition should be a deafening "no" - is, conversely, "yes."

His new volume, On China, in fact, is not so much about China as it is about Chinese diplomacy, something inextricably intertwined with China's strategic mentality and practice. It is about how this


mindset, a legacy from ancient war master Sunzi, can help us to understand China, the foremost anthropological and cultural challenge to the West; and how it can improve Western political planning philosophy overall.

The question is at the heart of Sunzi's idea that the best victories are achieved before a single battle has been fought.

This tradition of diplomacy is, for instance, how China managed to overcome many - although certainly not all - of the difficulties after the Opium Wars despite the many errors in its judgment regarding foreigners and despite making many wrong domestic political choices.

[JDPriestly]

1. Wisdom and patience in foreign relations? Good heavens! Who would have thunk it?

[xchrom]

2. +1