This first appeared on the Project 2049 website here. This article first appeared for The National Interest in April 2018.

Image: Reuters. 

[1]For examples of various programs, see http://tv.cctv.com/lm/fwxgc/;http://tv.cctv.com/lm/jsbd/20180402.shtml; and http://tv.cctv.com/lm/jskj/.

[2] See Andrew Chubb, "Propaganda, Not Policy: Explaining the PLA's 'Hawkish Faction,'" Jamestown China Brief, July 25, 2013, at https://jamestown.org/program/propaganda-not-policy-explaining-the-plas-hawkish-faction-part-one/.

[3] Cao Zhengrong, Wu Runbo, and Sun Jianjun (eds.), Informatized Joint Operations [信息化联合作战] (Beijing: Liberation Army Press, 2008), p. 236. Note this is from the second edition of the book. It was first written and published in 2006.

[4] Ibid. p. 241.

[5] Ibid. p. 242-262.

[6] Wu Zhizhong (ed.), Course Book on Wartime Political Work [战时政治工作教程] (Beijing: Academy of Military Sciences Press, 2013), p. 194.

[7] Ibid. pp.195-196.

[8] Zhu Hui (ed.), Research on Air Force Strategy Problems [空军战略问题研究] (Beijing: Blue Sky Press, 2014), pp. 306-371.

[9] Ibid. p. 310-315.    

[10] Ibid. p. 369-370. Note that similar anti-American terminology is seen across the spectrum of internal PLA books and field manuals, including authoritative works on topics as diverse as army operations, space warfare, and military medicine.