From the South China Morning Post, August 5:
From artificial intelligence to quantum technology and hypersonic weapons, the PLA is in a race to define the next era of warfare
Having marked its 99th anniversary on August 1, the People’s Liberation Army is now just a year away from its centenary goals, with its evolution highlighting the past, present and future of China’s military strategy. In the fourth part of , Amber Wang looks at the PLA’s pursuit of emerging technologies.
In an influential book published nearly three decades ago, a PLA military strategist argued that China should not try to match the US weapon for weapon but instead develop asymmetric advantages against its stronger rival.
Qiao Liang drew lessons from America’s victory in the Gulf War in the book, Unrestricted Warfare. He noted that warfare was entering an informationised era and that China was clearly lagging behind the United States.
Qiao – who co-authored the book with Wang Xiangsui – also said finance, cyberspace and psychological operations would be important in future wars.
“We don’t necessarily need to have what the US has,” Qiao wrote, back in 1999. “We need to have what it doesn’t.”
In the years since then, the book has drawn significant attention in Western military circles and has been studied at the US Military Academy in West Point, New York as part of broader discussions on Chinese strategic thinking.
It also continues to resonate among military strategists in China, as the People’s Liberation Army pursues emerging and “disruptive” technologies as part of its modernisation efforts – from artificial intelligence and quantum tech to hypersonic weapons and directed-energy systems.
Decades later, Qiao said the theory in his book still held.
He told the SCMP that militaries around the world were “increasingly moving towards building weapons for the wars they expect to fight, rather than fighting wars with the weapons they possess”.
The PLA leadership has said it aims to build a “world-class military” by the end of 2049. It is expected to disclose some of its modernisation goals in August next year when the military marks its centenary.
According to analysts, China is not just trying to close the gap with America on military capabilities but also to compete on shaping the next era of warfare through disruptive technologies – and to use them to boost deterrence.
After decades of learning from the US, China is now seen by some to be blazing its own path and even taking the lead in areas such as sixth-generation fighter jets, hypersonic and laser weapons.
Future battlefield
When a mysterious tailless aircraft was spotted in skies over the southwestern city of Chengdu in 2024, it turned heads – all over the world.
Shaped like a ginkgo leaf, it did not look like previous generations of Chinese stealth fighter jets. And it prompted speculation that China might have gained an upper hand in developing a next-generation fighter....
....MUCH MORE
Previously on the colonels:
May 2020 - "China updates its ‘Art of (Hybrid) War’"
April 2023 - “Unrestricted Warfare”
The best war is one your adversary doesn't even know they are fighting.
And it is advantageous to face a foe whose elites are blinded by both greed and hubris.*
And related:
July 2025 - "AI-driven tactics and technologies to manipulate cognition and emotion..."
September 2025 - "Challenging Reality: Chinese Cognitive Warfare and the Fight to Hack Your Brain"
April 2026 - "A Shakeup Is Coming for the Nation-State"
March 2022 - "NATO Innovation Hub On Cognitive Warfare"
July 2022 - RAND Corporation on Fourth Industrial Revolution Technologies And Influence Campaigns/Information Warfare
Sometimes I think McLuhan could see the future:
