Conclusiones del capítulo

In China, the method of defining and solving a so-called main contradiction is given as an example of the strategic application of stratagem 18 (Yu 1993, pp. 169–70; Yan, p. 68). A “main contradiction” is a central term in the official Marxist doctrine of the Chinese Communist Party. The starting point is the view that the whole world is a web of contradictions. Politics is the analysis and solution of contradictions. At each stage in its development, China’s political leadership must single out one of the many coexisting contradictions, and proclaim it to be the “main contradiction.” Its solution is the “main task” of the Chinese population. The entire strength of these millions of people is concentrated on this.

The Chinese Communist Party has defined the main contradiction on four occasions since 1937. From 1937 to 1945, the main contradiction was “China versus Japan.” Mao Zedong allied

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himself to solving this main contradiction with his sworn enemy in ideological terms, Chiang Kai-shek. The main task was to defeat Japan. From 1946 to 1949, the main contradiction was the “Chinese Communist Party under Mao Zedong versus China’s national government under Chiang Kai-shek.” The main task was to defeat Chiang Kai-shek. From 1949 to 1976 (or rather 1978), the main contradiction was the “proletariat versus the bourgeoisie.” The main task was the “class struggle.” While in China, I experienced in person the last year of this phase, and the first year of the transition to the new main-contradiction phase, which has ultimately lasted since 1978. This was why I was able to study the transformation of a main contradiction at first hand. The main contradiction has remained unchanged since the end of 1978. It is “the contradiction between the growing material and cultural needs of the people and the underdeveloped social production” (Chinese Communist Party constitution, November 14, 2002, General program, section 7). This main contradiction produces the main task of the Chinese people, as the main focus around which all work (including that in foreign-trade law) must revolve—the “construction of a socialist economy.”

Western observers have been astounded by the huge changes that have taken place in China since 1978. But very few of them know that the driving force within the Chinese economy has its roots mainly in Chinese Marxism and in its main-contradiction method, which is reminiscent of stratagem 18.³⁶In China, with its inclination towards a proletarian means of expression, easily understood by everyone, this use of stratagem 18 is rephrased with expressions like

“Use the line of the fishing net to move its mesh” and “If you lead a bull, lead it by its nose ring” (Yu 2003, pp. 86ff.).

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Stratagem 19:

Removing the firewood from under the cauldron

The firewood is the source of energy that causes the water in the cauldron to boil. The water cools down as soon as the firewood is removed.

The stratagem can be explained as follows.

1. A thing is tackled from the bottom up:

root-removal stratagem.

2. The wind is taken out of someone’s sails, their position is undermined, the ground is cut from under someone’s feet:

enfeeblement stratagem.

3. A conflict is defused, because allowing it to develop would be contrary to the person’s own interests:

conflict-limitation stratagem.

By applying this stratagem, you avoid meeting an opponent head-on, but instead sap their material or spiritual strength. There are many ways of incapacitating opponents. These include holding them up to ridicule. Humor undoubtedly helps to calm many tense situations. Sometimes, the aim of stratagem 19 is to destroy conditions that are favorable to an opponent.

Stratagem radius

Henry Ford (1863–1947) founded the Ford Motor Company with his financiers in 1903. It is said that a dispute with colleagues concerning the company’s strategic direction almost dealt it a death blow. “Ford prevented this through an act of cunning,” wrote Reiner Flick in Die Zeit (May 22, 2003, p. 24), although obviously without identifying the cunning technique Ford used. Instead, Flick simply recounted the events: “In 1905, he and a group of like-minded

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companions founded a component-manufacturing subsidiary that charged such high prices to the parent company that the entire profit remained with the subsidiary. The opposition swallowed its pride and sold its stock to Ford, as a result of which he owned 51% of the authorized capital. In 1919, he acquired the remaining stock.”

In political or other disputes, any little thing, a minor error of detail, in what the opponent says is seized on and played on, so that the really important message loses its impact (Yu 1994, p. 54).

In 1887, the British parliament decided that German goods sold in Britain should bear the wording “Made in Germany.” This was done in the belief that nobody would want to buy goods labeled

“Made in Germany.” As history has shown, this use of stratagem 19 proved to be foolish. Firewood was not so much removed from under the cauldron as added to it. The label “Made in Germany” gave German goods an even greater prestige, and promoted their sales worldwide.

Stratagem prevention

You must put in place double and triple protection to guard the sources of your own material and spiritual strength against possible outside enemy action. Your main resources should not be wantonly supplied to others. This is the only way of avoiding being swallowed up and losing your own mainstay. You must carefully consider all conceivable scenarios in relation to enemy action, and take the appropriate preventive measures. This is vitally important, particularly in the computer age.

Stratagem risk

If you carelessly remove firewood from under the cauldron while it is still burning, you can burn yourself. You must also be careful that the wood taken from under another’s cauldron does not turn out to be the branch you’re sitting on.

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Examples