Thoughts from the Chairman
Series Introduction
Introduction
The “Thoughts from the Chairman” series is intended to be thought provoking and encourage discussions, but is in no way meant to be authoritative. In some cases, the “Thoughts” will be complete works of fiction, though based on years of studying and thinking about issues facing the Chinese Communist Party, the People’s Liberation Army, the People’s Republic of China, the leaders, and the people of China. This series is not intended to be proscriptive or predictive, and is certainly not intended to endorse or support the ‘thoughts’ expressed within, but rather to give the reader some insights into how Chinese leaders might think about issues facing them. Call it informed speculation. Different people and cultures think differently and that is perfectly fine, you don’t need to agree, but you do need to strive to understand how and why they think that way if you want to learn what that might cause them to do, and how to best react.
In this series, the voice of “Chairman” could be attempting to emulate any one of a number of people or positions within China, or a combination of them. It could be addressing an issue from the point of view of the:
- Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
- “National Chairman (国家主席)”, which is often translated as ‘President’, which itself is actually “Zong tong/总统“, but the “President” of China is never called 总统 but rather 国家主席
- Chairman of one of any of a number of committees, commissions, or other organizations
This series will cover topics from military, to strategy, national policy, down to tactics, plans, as well as general concepts and ideas. It will have multiple authors, and multiple voices. All of which is intended to simply make people think about the ideas put forward. We welcome thoughts and contributions to this series.
Again, the series is not intended to be factual, or sighted as such, just provocative.
Opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied within are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Air University, the Department of the Air Force, the Department of Defense, or any other U.S. government agency. Cleared for public release: distribution unlimited.