Deciphering Sun Tzu : How to Read The Art of War by Derek M. C. Yuen

Author:Derek M. C. Yuen
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2015-03-05T02:18:24+00:00

DECIPHERING SUN TZU

[T]he essence of defensive strategy is to show the enemy an inadequacy. The essence of aggressive strategy lies in showing the enemy that you have a surplus.

If you show the enemy an insufficiency, then they will certainly advance and attack. In this case “enemy does not know where to attack.” If you show the enemy a surplus, then they will certainly take up defensive positions. In this case “the enemy does not know where to mount his defense.”29

Although it is often assumed that Sun Tzu’s original passage is nothing more than a truism, T’ang and Li read it from an entirely different angle in which the strategist utilizes “frozen” mindsets concerning attack and defense. It is important to note that “inadequacy” and “surplus,” as discussed in the above passage, have little to do with the real strength of a force. They are just postures for shaping the enemy’s perception, so that the enemy will stick with conventional norms that “one who cannot be

victorious assumes a defensive posture; one who can be victorious

attacks,” and will deviate from his original plan. In other words, this stratagem can be regarded as “attacking the enemy’s plans” at the operational/tactical level. This is one of Sun Tzu’s methods for “controlling”

the adversary and making his moves more predictable. At a higher level, the example manifests the workings of yin–yang, the dialectical engine of Chinese strategic thought, which suggests that any concept proposed

without considering its opposite is only half a concept.

“Know thy Self, Know thy Enemy”

“One who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be endangered

in a hundred engagements” (Chapter 3) is one of Sun Tzu’s most well-known sayings: it was even used to provide a theoretical foundation for Information Warfare (IW), a key component of the Revolution in

Military Affairs (RMA). However, the apparent association between the maxim and the concept of information superiority or dominance is

indicative of the kind of serious misreading that Sun Tzu’s ideas have thus far experienced in the West. Though the maxim certainly has something to say about intelligence, it would be misguided to view it through the lens of Information Warfare without first understanding its true

meaning. If it were simply the case that the maxim notes the importance 110

DECIPHERING SUN TZU

of intelligence and the collection of information about an opponent,

then it would amount to nothing more than a self-evident truism.

Moreover, Sun Tzu’s thoughts on intelligence are elaborated at length in Chapter 13, entitled “Employing Spies.”

Although Sun Tzu identifies various forms of intelligence, he places a particular emphasis on the role of cultural intelligence in war:

Of old the rise of the Yin (Shang) dynasty was because of Yi Yin who served the house Hsia; the rise of the Chou dynasty was because of Lu Ya [the Ta’i Kung/

Tai Gong] who served in the house of Shang. Thus only those farsighted rulers and their superior commanders who can get the most intelligent people as their spies are destined to accomplish great things. (Chapter 13)30

Yi Yin was a leading official in

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