In the Hall of Broken Mirrors
Because it wasn’t long after the fall of Communism that the Russians came up with a nifty theory that explained why they had lost. Called the “Dulles’ Plan”, this was a supposed scheme cooked up by Alan Dulles, the head of the CIA, to destroy Soviet values and Russian culture. The tools used were corruption of the young (ah, those insidious Beatles!), controlling the media to promote a glamorous but decadent lifestyle, and discrediting the government by cynical popular entertainers.
Like most conspiracy theories, the Dulles’ Plan concept oversimplifies things but has a certain basis in reality. It turns out that the CIA really did promote modern art in the West to show up the socialists, for example, just like they did trade unions in Poland. And there’s no denying that American cinema with its glamorous violent criminals from cowboys to gangsters and the glorification of sex and money could be much more appealing than heroic tales of honest peasants resisting greedy landlords.
In fact, Alan’s brother, John Foster Dulles, US Secretary of State, had actually come up with a similar scheme shortly after the war based on the Russian idea of “peaceful coexistence”. The American variant, “Peaceful Evolution”, envisaged slowly transforming the Chinese and Vietnamese communist systems by the gradual introduction of foreign ideas. This was intended to “shorten the expected life span of communism.” Gee, how could anyone possibly take that the wrong way?
As could be expected, the Red Chinese did, and very seriously. China has been paranoid about America’s intrusions at least since Yankee missionaries first arrived there in the Nineteenth century. But the Chinese Communists consider Peaceful Evolution to be the true underlying policy of the US – and also the biggest threat to their staying in power. And that is why they constantly reject any American criticism as unwarranted interference in their affairs, telling us to mind our own business. It’s not rudeness that causes such behavior, but a deep, abiding fear.
It is also very likely a major reason behind the 1989 Tienanmen Square Massacre, which decisively proved that the Chinese Reds would not quietly go the way of their defeated Soviet comrades. But for the People’s Republic to then settle for the status quo would only mean their eventual defeat. More active measures were needed to overcome the might and lures of the West.
Tianenmen Square, June 5, 1989
A decade later, a new theory emerged and the fully aroused dragon of Chinese nationalism provided the energy to implement it. In 1999, the same year Chinese pressure finally won back the British colony of Hong Kong without firing a shot, a book was published in China that set the basis for their new policy. Unrestricted Warfare, by two PLA Air Force colonels, launched a silent revolution in strategic thinking on both sides of the Pacific.
Clearly aimed against the US, the book claimed that the United States views military strategy mainly in terms of developing technology, overlooking most other aspects of war. Three years before 9/11 – but actually predicting Bin Laden’s attack on the World Trade Center in so many words – the book claimed that this immense blind spot makes America vulnerable to asymmetric warfare. The authors called for combining all these other methods – from legal and psychological assaults to economic means, smuggling drugs, and stealing technology – with military means in a concerted grand strategy.