Differences between traditional Chinese and Western military thinking and their philosophical roots

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed a heated debate in the Chinese military academia about traditional strategic culture and its impact on modern military thinking. This article tries to analyze and explain the differences between Chinese and Western military traditions from a philosophical perspective. The authors generalize disparities in Chinese and Western military traditions in the following paradigms: ‘justice’ vs ‘interests’, ‘human factors’ vs ‘weapon factors’, and ‘stratagem’ vs ‘strength’, and make an effort to trace them to their ancient philosophical roots. In their view, the Chinese military tradition focuses on ‘man’ by stressing ethical and moral dimensions in war, valuing ‘human factor’ more than ‘weapon factor’ and preferring victory won by wisdom to victory won by brutal force. The western strategic culture, on the other hand, shows its emphasis on ‘material’ by centering on interests, weapon factor and strength in military calculations. As culture legacies, these distinctive preferences still exert influences on modern strategic thinking and military decision making.