China has conducted a thorough analysis of the russian-Ukrainian war and revised its military strategy, displaying greater assertiveness and confidence in a potential escalation with the U.S. The analysis of changes in military doctrine is detailed in a public report by the U.S. Department of War.
Washington notes that these efforts are directed at the U.S., reflecting its own assessment of China as the primary strategic threat. While the conclusions may appear to center on the extensive use of drones on the battlefield, they ultimately reflect far more global strategic challenges.
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The key point is that Beijing is confident in its ability to control the intensity of a conflict by integrating operational and tactical actions with strategic maneuvering. In other words, China is confident that it can limit any conflict to conventional means, avoiding the use of nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction.
At the same time, China continues to rely on its capability to deliver long-range, high-precision strikes, which blur the boundaries between strategic, operational, and tactical levels of warfare and allow it to target areas far beyond the combat zone. These will be combined with the use of high-tech autonomous weapon systems, naval blockades and isolations, as well as large-scale sanctions.
The U.S. believes that the russian-Ukrainian war has enabled China to make key adjustments in preparing for a potential invasion of Taiwan, particularly in developing autonomous platforms, expanding its satellite communications network, and preparing its armed forces for urban warfare, beyond mere training exercises. Significant focus is placed on information operations and strategic communications, targeting both domestic and international audiences, while also preparing to avoid a prolonged conflict should a Taiwan invasion occur.
In general, war is viewed as a confrontation between national systems—military and civilian—which demands close coordination, clear communication, and unified planning across both sectors. In the case of conflict with the U.S., the term "total war" is used.
As the report notes, in Chinese military thinking, "total war" entails achieving the enemy surrender by mobilizing all available strategic resources. China is working to shorten the time required to mobilize the country for war, particularly by enabling the rapid and active deployment of reservists.
At the same time, China's Ministry of Defense emphasizes that the political objectives of any war must be clearly defined and limited to maximize control and the likelihood of success.
The main concept of warfare is "multi-domain precision warfare." This requires the use of an integrated C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance) network to place forces under centralized command, enabling the rapid concentration of combat power across all domains against the enemy most vulnerable point. The main aspect of such a system is the ability to quickly analyze Big Data using artificial intelligence.
In addition, the use of artificial intelligence is expected to take so-called war games to a new level, enabling a qualitative leap in the planning and modeling of real combat operations. At the same time, the U.S. Department of War notes that China has had no real combat experience in recent decades.
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