Strategic psychology and the study of China’s whole-of-nation strategy

Abstract

This study explores conceptual variants underpinning the prolific threat of China’s global information operations, shedding light on the under-examined role of strategic psychology in China’s quest for global primacy. Ancient stratagems underlying the Chinese cultural identity and character are applied through a framework to provide clarifying insights into the motivations, intentions, and capacities of China’s pre- and nonkinetic actions. The aim is to identify the individual rationales and cognitive mechanisms that underlie the vast array of China’s national instruments short of war and provide an indigenous, localized perspective to fully understand China’s whole-of-nation strategy.