{"id":16222,"date":"2018-11-09T19:24:07","date_gmt":"2018-11-09T19:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/11\/09\/how-china-won-the-global-war-on-terror\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:35:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:35:54","slug":"how-china-won-the-global-war-on-terror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2018\/11\/09\/how-china-won-the-global-war-on-terror\/","title":{"rendered":"How China won the global war on terror"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, America awoke the undisputed superpower, commanding advantages across all dimensions of national power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

America boasted unprecedented diplomatic and military strength. Our companies dominated the U.S.-developed internet, spreading soft power at light speed. Our economy was 32 percent of global gross domestic product, the federal budget generated surpluses and the national debt was less than $6 trillion. A true \u201cnear peer\u201d was laughable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This strategic advantage eroded<\/a> as America fixated on a small, at times lethal, band of extremists. These same fanatics and a purported threat of weapons of mass destruction were invoked to invade Iraq. For 17 years, these non-existential threats have been America\u2019s strategic distraction, leading to where our National Defense Policy states we face great power \u201ccompetitor\u201d nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happened? While we continue to fight the global war on terror, China won it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winning a war commonly means emerging better than the enemy. But winning also can mean using a war to gain strategic advantage. One can say Japan won World War I when it used the European powers\u2019 distraction to expand in the Asia-Pacific region, something reversed at the cost of allied blood and treasure during World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China has used the United States\u2019 GWOT distraction to pursue strategic advantage, with spectacular results. In 2002, China jettisoned its policy of the \u201cpeaceful rise of China\u201d and doubled down on its quest to close gaps with America by using deliberate policies coordinated across society and government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geopolitically, China expanded its sphere of influence. It flaunted international law, seizing and ecologically destroying South China Sea reefs to build outposts it later militarized, providing footholds in the middle of one of the world\u2019s busiest shipping lanes. America protested, but GWOT commitments precluded any tangible show of force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning arrives in Hong Kong waters on July 7, 2017, less than a week after a high-profile visit by president Xi Jinping. (Anthony Wallace\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Simultaneously, China is expanding its influence with money and labor to build \u201cOne Belt, One Road,\u201d tying regional trade to its economy and creating dependent client states. Meanwhile, the United States negotiated, and then abruptly abandoned, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, meant to counterbalance Chinese efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\t