Prepping for Xi’s Visit: Part 2
Here we start to get into China’s real superpower expertise, yet these revelations below are based on Chinese disclosures in publications. The dates of publications have been provided. As usual my working assumption is a country discloses things not when they’ve become operational but when they’ve become redundant. Therefore in the period mentioned up unto 2016, these technological strategies had been operational for some time and something new had taken its place. Hence the disclosure. That would be my guess given China’s own secrecy laws, behaviors and technology theft operations.
The Marathon Era (2010–2016): The Asymmetric Finisher in the Y & Z Domains
System Destruction Warfare, the Strategic Support Force, and the Genesis of Biological and Brain Dominance
1. The Seamless Transition: Evolving the Assassin’s Mace into a Deadly Finisher
In Part I of this series, we examined the foundational era of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Assassin’s Mace (Shashoujian, 杀手锏) doctrine (late 1990s to mid-2000s). Spurred by the technological shock of the 1991 Gulf War and the 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis, early strategists like Major General Li Zhiyun (NDU), Major General Sun Bailin (AMS), and Senior Engineer Chang Mengxiong (BISE) identified the physical and electromagnetic "acupuncture points" of American expeditionary forces.
In that initial epoch, the Assassin’s Mace was conceived primarily as physical, orbital, and electromagnetic counter-weapons: road-mobile anti-ship ballistic missiles (DF-21D), kinetic direct-ascent anti-satellite interceptors (SC-19), smart sea mines, and tactical radar jammers. The operational goal was tactical interdiction: creating an Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) perimeter around the First Island Chain to delay American intervention.
However, between 2010 and 2016—the exact period during which Dr. Michael Pillsbury was conducting the research and interviews that culminated in his 2015 book, The Hundred-Year Marathon: China's Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower—Chinese military strategy confronted a fundamental strategic dilemma.
To resolve this, Chinese defense planners returned to Warring States statecraft and Sun Tzu's highest maxim: "To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill" (不战而屈人之兵，善之善者也).
The definition of an Assassin’s Mace underwent an evolution. It ceased to be merely a specialized counter-missile designed to destroy an incoming platform. It became an unconventional, deadly finisher: a decisive capability designed to dismantle an adversary’s capacity or will to fight, delivering a fatal blow to the enemy's operational system before conventional forces can even assemble. To deliver this finisher, the PLA expanded its campaign beyond physical geography into the Y and Z domains: network architectures, biology, and human consciousness.
Strategic Briefing: Analysis of China's doctrine of Intelligentized Warfare, Military-Civil Fusion, and Non-Kinetic Dissipative Operations.
2. The Five Pillars: Deconstructing the "Y" and "Z" Doctrinal Hierarchy
Between 2010 and 2016, authoritative PLA publications constructed a command hierarchy that systematically shifted focus from physical geography to the biological and cognitive substrate of decision-makers. In Chinese military science, these concepts are defined by specific doctrinal terms, dominated by the prefixes Zhi (制 - To Command / Control / Seize Dominance) and Yu (域 - Domain / Realm).
| Doctrinal Realm | Pinyin & Characters | Lead Institutions & Flag Officers | Key Literature & Dates | The Mechanism of the "Deadly Finisher" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Information Dominance | Zhixinxiquan (制信息权) |
Academy of Military Science (AMS Strategic Research Dept.) | Science of Military Strategy (战略学) — 2013 |
Dismantling adversary C4ISR networks via System Destruction Warfare (Tixi Pozuozhan). |
| Intelligentized Warfare | Zhinenghua (智能化) |
Central Military Commission (CMC) Leadership | 13th Five-Year Defense Directives — 2015–2016 | Employing automated algorithms to out-cycle human OODA loops at machine speed. |
| Biological Dominance | Zhishengquan (制生权) |
Senior Colonel Guo Jiwei (Third Military Medical University) |
War for Biological Dominance (制生权战争) — 2010 |
Achieving a "bloodless victory" (bing bu ren xue) by incapacitating physiological and metabolic functions. |
| Domain of Consciousness | Yishiyu (意识域) |
Major General He Fuchu (President of AMMS / VP of AMS) |
"Biomilitaronics and Consciousness Operations" — 2014–2016 | Expanding military operations beyond physical and informational boundaries into human cognition. |
| Brain Dominance | Zhinaoquan (制脑权) |
PLA Daily Editorial Board & NDU Faculty | "Brain Control Operations: A New Mode of Warfare" — Oct 17, 2017 | Seizing the ultimate commanding height (zhigaodian) by manipulating, degrading, or disabling the adversary's mind. |
Detailed Analysis of the Doctrinal Pillars
- Zhixinxiquan (制信息权 - Information Dominance) & System Destruction Warfare: Codified in the AMS's definitive 2013 text, Science of Military Strategy, Information Dominance moved from a combat support role to the decisive condition for victory. AMS established that modern war is an interactive clash between opposing operational architectures. Rather than destroying physical platforms, the PLA focuses on severing critical network nodes (guanjian jiedian)—undersea cable landing sites, satellite uplinks, and airborne radar relays—causing the adversary's combat forces to collapse internally.
- Zhinenghua (智能化 - Intelligentized Warfare): Mid-2010s planners recognized that *Informatization* (*Xinxihua*) was only an intermediate step. While informatization networked human operators, *Zhinenghua* integrates artificial intelligence and algorithmic models to automate decision-making. The finisher is cognitive speed: an intelligentized network generates targeting solutions in milliseconds, closing the kill chain before human commanders can evaluate incoming data.
- Zhishengquan (制生权 - Biological Dominance): In 2010, Senior Colonel Guo Jiwei of the Third Military Medical University published the foundational text War for Biological Dominance with PLA Press. Guo asserted that biology is an independent warfighting domain capable of delivering a "bloodless victory" (bing bu ren xue). By targeting human metabolic functions, sleep cycles, and neuro-receptors, a force can incapacitate adversary personnel without kinetic destruction.
- Yishiyu (意识域 - Domain of Consciousness): Conceptualized by Major General He Fuchu (President of AMMS, later VP of AMS), this theory argues that human consciousness is the final operational battlespace. Between 2014 and 2016, He Fuchu argued that military competition had conquered the land, sea, air, space, and electromagnetic spectrum, identifying *Yishiyu* as the ultimate contested domain.
- Zhinaoquan (制脑权 - Brain Dominance): On October 17, 2017, the *PLA Daily* published its landmark editorial, "Brain Control Operations: A New Mode of Future Warfare Competition." The paper declared that seizing Brain Dominance had become the strategic commanding height of great-power competition. If an operator can degrade or control the cognitive faculties of enemy commanders and civilian leadership, their conventional military platforms are rendered ineffective.
3. The Non-Kinetic Finisher: Intelligence Ingestion and Neuro-Disruption
Executing non-kinetic finishers requires detailed operational mapping of the adversary's systems and personnel. During the 2010–2016 era, this was supported by two major strategic intelligence breaches:
1. The 2013 Defense Science Board (DSB) Breach
In May 2013, a classified Defense Science Board study leaked to The Washington Post revealed that Chinese cyber operators had breached networks housing designs for more than twenty-four frontline American weapons systems. The exfiltrated data included schematics and software code for the Patriot PAC-3, THAAD, Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, and V-22 Osprey. This compromise allowed PLA electronic warfare units to identify radar waveform limits, missile seeker frequencies, and vertical launch routines, enabling tailored countermeasures.
2. The 2015 Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Breach
In June 2015, the exfiltration of 21.5 million Standard Form 86 (SF-86) security clearance applications gave Chinese intelligence access to detailed medical, financial, and psychological backgrounds of American national security personnel. Within PLA cognitive doctrine, this vast dataset provided the baseline information needed to train predictive behavioral models for operations targeting human decision-makers in Yishiyu.
Offensive Biotechnology and Ethnic-Specific Targeting
In 2017, General Zhang Shibo (President of the PLA National Defense University, 2014–2017; former Commander of the Beijing Military Region) published New High Grounds of National Security. General Zhang asserted that synthetic biology had reached an offensive inflection point. Most notably, he openly discussed the strategic potential of "specific ethnic genetic attacks" (特定种族基因攻击): engineering biological agents to target specific population-level genetic variations while leaving friendly forces unaffected.
Military Brain Science and Neuro-Strike Research
During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2015–2016), the Central Military Commission Science and Technology Commission established a military brain science program parallel to the national China Brain Project. Conducted alongside institutions like the National University of Defense Technology (led by researchers such as Hu Dewen), this effort pursued two primary lines of research:
- Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI): Developing neural interface helmets to decode EEG signals, enabling direct human-machine control of autonomous systems at neural speed.
- Directed-Energy Neuro-Strike: Investigating non-nuclear radio-frequency and microwave emitters to project directed electromagnetic radiation into command posts, inducing cognitive disorientation, vertigo, and mental fatigue in watch officers without physical destruction.
4. The Structural Transformation: The Rise of the Strategic Support Force (2015)
Operationalizing these asymmetric doctrines required an organizational overhaul. On December 31, 2015, Chairman Xi Jinping dissolved legacy divisions within the General Staff Department (3PLA for SIGINT/cyber, 4PLA for electronic warfare) and established the Strategic Support Force (SSF - 战略支援部队).
The SSF was created as an independent service branch reporting directly to the Central Military Commission, with a mandate to unify space, cyber, electronic, and psychological capabilities:
| Operational Department | Doctrinal Command Mandate | Assigned Asymmetric Capabilities |
|---|---|---|
| Space Systems Department (航天系统部) |
Space Dominance (Zhitianquan) | Orbital optical and SAR surveillance, direct-ascent kinetic ASAT (SC-19/DN-3), ground-based anti-satellite laser dazzling, and co-orbital interception systems. |
| Network Systems Department (网络系统部) |
Information Dominance (Zhixinxiquan) | Offensive cyber interdiction and critical infrastructure access, high-power electronic warfare (AESA jamming), and cognitive/psychological warfare directed via Base 311. |
The creation of the SSF provided Beijing with a unified instrument to execute "acupuncture" strikes against an adversary's operational and cognitive networks simultaneously.
5. Archival Doctrinal Matrix (2010–2017)
| Strategist / Author | Military Rank | Institutional Affiliation | Authoritative Literature | Year | Core Strategic Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senior Colonel Guo Jiwei (郭继卫) |
Senior Colonel (大校) | Third Military Medical University (Chongqing) | War for Biological Dominance (制生权战争) |
2010 | Codified Biological Dominance (Zhishengquan) as an independent warfighting domain aimed at "bloodless victory." |
| AMS Strategic Research Dept. | Flag Officer Drafting Panel | Academy of Military Science (AMS, Beijing) | Science of Military Strategy (战略学) |
2013 | Codified System Destruction Warfare (Tixi Pozuozhan) and established Zhixinxiquan as the primary operational enabler. |
| Major General He Fuchu (贺福初) |
Major General (少将) / CAS Academician | Academy of Military Medical Sciences (AMMS, Beijing) | "Biomilitaronics and Consciousness Operations" | 2014–2016 | Formulated the Domain of Consciousness (Yishiyu) and directed military brain science initiatives. |
| NDU Strategy Department | Senior Faculty Committee | PLA National Defense University (NDU, Beijing) | Science of Military Strategy (战略学) |
2015 / 2017 | Formally integrated non-kinetic deterrence, biotechnology, and cognitive operations into NDU joint doctrine. |
| General Zhang Shibo (张仕波) |
General (上将) | PLA National Defense University (President, 2014–2017) | New High Grounds of National Security (国家安全战略高地) |
2017 | Analyzed the operationalization of offensive biotechnology, including specific ethnic genetic targeting. |
| PLA Daily Commentator Panel | Senior Editorial Board | PLA Daily (Central Military Commission) | "Brain Control Operations: A New Mode of Future Warfare" | Oct 17, 2017 | Elevated Brain Dominance (Zhinaoquan) as the strategic commanding height of great-power military competition. |
6. Conclusion: The Anatomy of the Asymmetric Finisher
When Dr. Michael Pillsbury published The Hundred-Year Marathon in 2015, public analysis focused primarily on China’s visible kinetic weaponry: the DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile, hypersonic glide vehicles, and prototype stealth fighters.
However, authoritative Chinese military literature produced between 2010 and 2016 shows that the PLA had already looked beyond platform-versus-platform kinetic exchanges. The true Assassin’s Mace had evolved from an individual anti-ship missile into a systemic, non-kinetic finisher.
In this doctrinal vision, the United States joint force would not be defeated in a fleet battle at sea. Instead, its staging links would be severed, its sensor feeds blinded, its command networks disrupted, and its decision-makers disoriented—rendering intervention operationally impossible before the first conventional shot was fired.
Archival Sources & Doctrinal Literature
- Academy of Military Science (AMS) Strategic Research Department. Science of Military Strategy (战略学). Military Science Press, Beijing, 2013 edition.
- National Defense University (NDU) Strategy Department. Science of Military Strategy (战略学). National Defense University Press, Beijing, 2015 and 2017 editions.
- Guo Jiwei. War for Biological Dominance (制生权战争). PLA Press, Beijing, 2010.
- Zhang Shibo. New High Grounds of National Security (国家安全战略高地). National Defense University Press, Beijing, 2017.
- He Fuchu. "Biotechnology and the Commanding Heights of Future National Defense." China Military Science (中国军事科学), Academy of Military Medical Sciences.
- PLA Daily (解放军报). "Brain Control Operations: A New Mode of Future Warfare Competition" (制脑作战：未来战争竞争新模式). Central Military Commission, October 17, 2017.
- Defense Science Board. Resilient Military Systems and the Advanced Cyber Threat. Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, 2013.
- Nakashima, Ellen. "Confidential Report Lists Compromised U.S. Weapons Designs." The Washington Post, May 27, 2013.
- Pillsbury, Michael. The Hundred-Year Marathon: China's Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower. Henry Holt and Co., 2015.
