‘First global war of the 21st century’ launched without firing a shot

FPI / April 16, 2020

A Wuhan doctor who tried to sound the alarm on the coronavirus "triggered" the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) "authoritarian control on information," a retired U.S. general noted.

"Discussion of the illness was prohibited, and the doctor – who tried to warn colleagues through social media – was detained. The results of patient samples that had been sequenced to reveal their genomes were quickly squashed, and the samples destroyed before the results could be made public," Gen. Rob Spalding wrote in an op-ed for American Military News.

And, thus, "the first global war of the 21st century began in December without a shot fired," Spalding wrote.

Spalding was the chief architect for the Trump administration’s widely praised National Security Strategy (NSS), and the Senior Director for Strategy to the President at the National Security Council. He is also the author of "Stealth War: How China Took Over While America’s Elite Slept".

The World Health Organization (WHO) was notified in the early stages of the outbreak, but was "prevented by the CCP to travel to Wuhan," Spalding noted. "Meanwhile, the CCP denied there was any danger to the public while 175,000 people traveled from Wuhan to all over China and the world. The virus was now set free to follow the new way of war detailed in the pages of 'Unrestricted Warfare'. This book was written by two People's Liberation Army colonels as a strategy to defeat a militarily superior United States."

Following the 'Unrestricted Warfare' playbook, in the CCP's hands "globalization becomes weaponized," Spalding wrote. "The CCP has spent decades utilizing globalization to slowly take control of the world’s trading system, dominate key industries and markets, build a global media and Internet presence, and deploy subjects and diplomats around the world. Therefore, when the time comes these elements can easily be brought together for three intentional actions – deflect blame, cause panic, take advantage."

Deflect blame

Because the CCP controls Chinese language media everywhere "with an iron grip, they can rile an army of ‘victims’ to deflect their own culpability for the pandemic," Spalding wrote. "Chinese language social media uses the often-utilized practice of crying racism and stoking nationalism to instill fear and revenge in those inside and outside the country. These activated citizens can then be spontaneous in their response by creating 'hug me I’m not a virus' campaigns. Meanwhile, the citizens under lockdown are blocked from sharing their boots-on-the-ground point of view as social media is further restricted and censored. Abroad, a full media and diplomatic blitzkrieg can be levied to ensure the virus is not named according to its origin, which gives way to another campaign to establish that it came from another country. Finally, flush with horded supplies the CCP can feign being good Samaritans as they earn profits on price gouging the world on personal protective equipment (PPE). Ultimately, deflecting blame props up the CCP message about the superiority of their Communist system."

Cause panic

"Fear is one of the strongest human motivators," Spalding noted. "Since the CCP controls the supply chain, they can activate internal and external actors to lock down the supply of medical equipment, fueling fear. This is accomplished by denying the export of certain items like masks, threatening to ban the export of others like pharmaceuticals, and buying up any foreign domestic stock using their networks abroad. The rest is done by us. Fear is strengthened by hyper-inflated models that are blasted 24/7 to add to a frenzy that incentivizes even more media consumption. Panic buying, hoarding, and the political blame game follow, adding to the cycle."

Take advantage

This, Spalding noted, "is the true goal of weaponized globalization. The CCP wages a global game of ‘Go’ with a constant focus and intermittent opportunities for accelerated risk-taking for greater gains. The first bold move on the Go board was during the 2008 financial crisis, when the CCP stepped from the United States’ financial shadow. China was the beneficiary of much of the fiscal stimulus the U.S. created to get out of crisis, because U.S. banks flush with cash loaned it to China for real estate development. The difference between the current #CCPVirus-inspired crisis and 2008 is this time the CCP holds the advantage. They knew about the virus beforehand and could therefore control the outflow of information and people. Any Wall Street veteran knows a pandemic will cause a panic in the market. Thus, the CCP was well-positioned to liquidate positions, probably quietly before anyone was even paying attention. Their next educated guess would have been that the U.S. and others would enact a vast stimulus bill, which would flow into China by virtue of the fact they held all the supply chains – more profits pour in. Meanwhile, flush with cash, they can shore up U.S. and other companies with that cash further solidifying control. As an added benefit, they may reverse or at least slow down the U.S. effort to prevent the deployment of the Chinese 5G networks that will take all data back to China and fulfill Kai Fu Li’s dream of becoming 'the Saudi Arabia of data.' ”

Spalding continued: "In the aftermath, we will endlessly debate whether the #CCPVirus was deliberately created and released, or a freak of nature. The debate will be used to deflect attention that the CCP deliberately created the global pandemic. The United States also tends to project our democratic system onto the CCP, and loses sight of the fact that controlling the vast authoritarian enterprise is a mixture of entrepreneurship and direct action, without the humanitarian spirit. In other words, most are doing it for the money, while some are deliberately directed.

" 'Unrestricted Warfare' has documented this all. The paper was a perfectly designed guide for manipulating the post-Cold War world. Until one can see the world from the adversary’s point of view, one will be ever at a disadvantage. But all is not yet lost. It’s time to protect, encourage and let loose the one antidote to the CCP pandemic, the enduring American spirit to throw off and be from tyranny."

Free Press International