Chinese military philosophy: three principles by Sun Tzu

Kardashov V.

The article is devoted to the problem of philosophical understanding of China’s military strategy from the point of military philosophy. The purpose of the article is to review the basic principles of Chinese military philosophy, formulated over 2.5 thousand years ago, but still relevant today. The objectives of the article are: content analysis of scientific literature on the research topic; in considering the basic principles of China’s military philosophy and their implementation in relations with the outside world. The research methodology is based on a systematic approach and includes the methods of the general scientific group (analysis, synthesis, deduction, induction); as well as special methods: content analysis of scientific literature on the research topic; factual analysis; and the method of retrospective analysis. The article analyzes the principles of China’s military philosophy, set forth in the treatise of the philosopher Sun Tzu. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that the author of the article proposes China's strategy from the standpoint of understanding the basic principles of military philosophy. Based on the results of the study, the author of the article came to the following conclusions: 1) Chinese military philosophy, having ancient traditional roots, is implemented in the “soft power” strategy within the framework of China’s public diplomacy; 2) according to the principles of military philosophy, China prefers not to enter into open military confrontation without the need for self-defense; 3) all the principles of China’s military philosophy directly contradict the possibilities of China’s entry into any strategic alliance with other states.

Keywords:military philosophy, China, Russia, civilizational paradigm, strategic partnership.