Voice of Reason – Chinese Theory in Practice | Strategy vs. Tactics

Around 1948, the Liberation War entered the strategic counter-offensive stage. When the Chinese Revolution was about to claim nationwide victory, the policy and strategy of the Party became a critical issue. Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out in the “Several Important Issues on the Current Policies of the Party”  which he drafted for the CPC Central Committee that “while we rightly and strategically despise the enemy as a whole, we must not despise them in every aspect or on every specific issue.” This statement was later summarized as “despise the enemy strategically and take the enemy seriously tactically.” Systematic thinking about the Party’s strategy and tactics, as well as improving the ability of the majority of Party members and officials to correctly apply strategy and tactics at different levels have greatly contributed to the Party’s political unity and maturity while fostering a reliable guarantee for the victory of the Chinese Revolution and the founding of the New China.

Strategy refers to making judgments and decisions on the overall situation, taking into account the long term and the general trend; while tactic refers to specific plans formulated to achieve certain specific goals, which are highly operable and practical. Correct strategies need to be implemented with correct tactics, the making of correct tactics relies on the guidance of correct strategies. So how to grasp the relationship between strategy and tactics? First of all, strategy involves fundamental principles. Strategic issues are fundamental to a political party and a country. When the strategic judgment is accurate, strategic plans are scientific, and when strategic moves are made, there would be hope for the undertakings of the Party and the people. Strategic issues are a matter of principle calling for overall and long-term concentration. The report of the 20th Party Congress points out that “Chinese-style modernization is socialist modernization under the leadership of the CPC, embodying not only the common characteristics of modernization of all countries, but also Chinese characteristics based on its own national conditions.” These are definitive words for Chinese-style modernization. The leadership of the Party determines the fundamental direction, future destiny and the ultimate success of Chinese-style modernization, therefore it’s a strategic issue.

Secondly, it is necessary to comprehend the overarching and forward-looking nature of strategy. As the old saying goes: “He who does not plan for the long term cannot plan for the short term; he who does not consider the whole picture cannot plan for a single part.” Correct strategic guidance offers the basis for the making of tactics and points the direction of all efforts. The book “Zhijiang Xinyu”  has a sentence that goes, “whether the strategic period of opportunity can be turned into a reality depends mainly on the subjective initiative of the people, and in particular, the macro strategic decision-making.” Twenty years ago, Zhejiang felt the “pain of constraints”, in the face of unforeseen “growing bottlenecks”. Comrade Xi Jinping, who just came to Zhejiang at the time, believed that the time had come for Zhejiang early and that Zhejiang had entered the period of economic take-off, development mode transformation, a crucial period for deepening reforms, a period for uplifting opening-up, a period of transforming the model of social development and a period with heightened social contradictions. In such a key moment of modernization, and based on a large number of investigations, Comrade Xi Jinping proposed at the 4th Plenary Session of the 11th Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee in 2003 the “eight-eight strategy”, which was an overarching strategic plan for Zhejiang. Following the “eight-eight strategy”, Zhejiang down-allocated the strategy into specific plans across the various levels of government and translated the plans into tangible actions, opening a grand new chapter of the modernization drive in Zhejiang. Now in retrospect, it is the macro-strategic guidance of the “eight-eight strategy” that laid a solid foundation for Zhejiang being selected as a demonstration area for high-quality development and common prosperity.

It’s also important to focus on the flexibility of the strategy. Correct strategic guidance must be coupled with specific tactics developed in accordance with the specific situation. On August 15, 2005, Comrade Xi Jinping, then Secretary of CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee, paid an inspection trip to Yu Village of Anji, where he first proposed the important concept that “green mountains and lucid waters are invaluable assets”. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi has repeatedly proposed to turn green mountains into golden mountains. In promoting the harmonious man-nature coexistence for Chinese modernization, “green development” and the “green is gold” concept have become a strategic guiding ideology for China’s development. But with respect to how to turn green mountains into gold ones, different localities have their own realities, hence innovative tactics must be developed accordingly to turn green into gold.

Some places are naturally bestowed with the gold of green mountains, for example, Zhang Linshun, the old village head of Changkou Village in Sanming City, Fujian Province, when marrying off his daughter, the dowry was a forest rights certificate numbered 0001, which by itself is equivalent to a bowl of gold. Some places embraced the “Green +” model to transform green into gold, one example is the garden city of Zhejiang’s Deqing. Some have restored green mountains and lucid waters, integrating ecological restoration with the bio-economy, and the management of the Kubuqi desert is a good case in point. Some have transformed ice and snow mountains into gold, for instance, the booming winter sports economy following Beijing’s winter Olympics.

The party’s strategies and policies are the fundamental judgements made on the basis of the overall situation from a long-term perspective that aim for great endeavors. They’re the “central benchmark” all localities must align with through resolute actions. This being said, they shall not create the excuse for doctrinism and dogmatism. When implementing the strategic decisions of the CPC Central Committee, various localities must take into account their own realities and resource endowment, and take targeted measures to put on the ground the strategic plans of the CPC Central Committee.

Finally, grasp the dialectical and unified relationship between the principle of strategy and the flexibility of tactics. Strategy and tactics are not two separated parts, rather, they shall move towards the same goal in tandem. The journey may not be a straight line forward, there might be setbacks or even stagnation. Hence, it’s important to correctly deal with the principle of strategy and the flexibility of tactics. We need to seek the initiative in strategy, form strategic strength, and leverage the guiding role of a strategy. At the same time, it’s important to develop feasible, executable tactics based on the specific situation, and integrate the principle of strategy and the flexibility of tactics.

With strategies and resolute actions and guided by the grand visions of nation-building through Chinese-style modernization and national rejuvenation, we must properly handle the relationship between strategy and tactics, plan for a locality while bearing in mind the full regional picture; and grasp the trend when engaging in great endeavors. The huge ship of China will certainly be able to cut through waves and sail towards a broader and brighter future.