'PRC's political warfare is total war without fighting major kinetic wars'

Kerry Gershaneck, a former US Marine officer and a university professor, speaks to The Sunday Guardian.

- CLEO PASKAL ALEXANDRIA, VA.

China's Political Warfare operations are killing millions and destroying economies, yet they seldom get called what they are: acts of war. In this edition of "Indo-Pacific: Behind the Headlines", we speak with Prof Kerry K. Gershaneck, a former US Marine officer and Asia-based university professor with over 30 years of national-level strategic communications and counterintelligence experience.

He literally wrote the book on the topic: Political Warfare: Strategies for Combating China's Plan to 'Win without Fighting'.

Q: What is political warfare?

A: Political Warfare is not a new concept. State and non-state actors have engaged in it for thousands of years. The US views political employment warfare as the of all the means at a nation's command, short of war, to achieve its national objectives. These means are both overt and covert, and include political alliances, economic measures, propaganda, and covert operations such as support for underground resistance against hostile states.

Q: How does China view political warfare?

A: Political Warfare is Beijing's preferred instrument to achieve its national objectives without having to fight a major kinetic war. Its version is much more expansive and often much more effective than that of other countries. China's political warfare is Total War, waged through a wide array of Unrestricted Warfares.

It is secretive and highly deceptive characteristic government leaders globally fail to fathom. It seeks to win without fighting, primarily by ensuring that we cannot or will not fight back! Everything is permitted to include violence, coercion, bribery, propaganda, psychological warfare, legal warfare (or Lawfare), and United Front work that builds coalitions of organizations globally to support the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) objectives.