Rating: 
Summary: Misleading, the subtitle is added by translater
Review: As a PhD candidate in international politics, I would say this book is just a common book talking about the art of warfare. However, when it is translated into English, it becomes a book linking China with the international terrorism. I have read this book in both Chinese and English. I am surprised that the translater's munipulation of languages. To satisfy people's curiosity and reinforce the hostility towards China, the transler wrote another book out of the original one. I would say that the original book is a pretty good one, but the English version is a piece of junk.It's funny that ben2g's mentioned that American captured 150 Chinese military advisors. Actually, American troops did captured some Chinese in Afghanistan, but those people are all Chinese muslim seperatists, advocating to establish a "Republic of Eastern Turkishtan" in Xijiang Province of China. Ironically, many of military actions against Chinese government were financed by the United States. It seems that ben2g has no ideas of international politics in eastern Asia. Final comments: since most ordinary citizens are not concerned with international affairs, this book could be really misleading, because people love to see something sensational and unusual. I think you shouldn't buy this book to reward the dishonesty of the translaters and the editors in translating the book and in interprating the meaning of the original authors.
Rating: 
Summary: discrepancy of cover and subtitle
Review: At first glance, I thought this book was about 9-11 attack. I was totally fooled by the cover instead. After reading the book carefully, I found the sub-title "China's Master Plan to Destroy America" has nothing to do with the cover at all. Not to mention that China is in alliance with US to fight terrorism. A good book should be honest and straight-forward, but NOT misleading. I am not sure why the editors of this book chose 9-11 scene as the cover. Maybe they just felt it would attract more eye balls. What a trick! I guess next time, I could write something like "Unbalanced Economy: Japan's master plan to control the world" and with a cover showing 9-11 scene as well.
Rating: 
Summary: The Growing Giant
Review: China by far is becoming to be one of the biggest threats to United States and World Peace in this new century and this great little book just states the ways it would achieve its goals. Call me Crazy but the facts speak for them selves. Yes I would bet that a majority of Chines people are peaceful ones and want nothing to do with war, but the truth of the matter remains that common people, especialy poor farmers, do not have ANY say in political and military decisions of Comunistic leaders(Try Now to Recolect the ideals of communism in the first place) and frankly who cares what they think. China HAS OVER A BILLION PEOPLE. THATS OVER 1,000,000,000
number of humans, and NOT SURPISINGLY AROUND 40,000,000, thats a Forty Million Man Standing Army Comparing to America's 4 Million one. AND Forget about war. If China goes to war and enacts a mass draft they will have at least a three hundred million man army and thats bigger then the total population of the United States of America. To add to all of that China is merely less then a decade away from fully modernizing their army. Now ask your self one simple question. Why would the already biggest army in the world need to be bigger and stronger, do you think any country would even think about attacking China? China is just stalling America for three fundamental reasons, to finish modernizing their army, enlarge their economy and build up their nuclear arsenal, and so far they are doing a heck of a job. And the terrorist attacks which are just starting were desined in a very good plan to weaken America in order to soften it up for the big blow comming in the not so distant future. Wether Osama worked with china or not is irrelevant the goal of both groups is the same and the way they achieve it is in this book. Not surprisingly writen by two colonel of the Chines army, in other words its future Generals.
Rating:
Summary: Osama bin Laden: the *real* Manchurian Candidate?
Review: Did China have a hand in 9/11?
"Unrestricted Warfare" means exactly what it says: that modern-day Communist China is dedicated to any means available to destroy its rival for the status of global superpower, the United States---and excerpts suggesting asymmetrical warfare against high-profile, high-casualty civilian targets not only suggest our own conflict against international terrorism, but ups the ante---the book even mentions Osama Bin Laden by name, and notes the destructive effect of an "explosion in the World Trade Center".
China: even its name, Zhongghua, means "Middle Kingdom", the point at which Heaven intersects with Earth. It is the birthplace of great warrior-poet-philosophers, the cradle of gunpowder and high mathematics, for thousands of years the very bastion of civilization against a tide of barbarians.
At the end of the 19th century, in the wake of the brutal "Opium Wars", millions of its people languished in the addiction of opium brought by European traders, who staked out their markets by bringing in the gunboats of their home countries.
China became a slave nation. But only 50 years later, Mao Tse-Tung---another warrior-poet in the tradition of Sun Tzu---had mobilized the people to rise up against Western control, against the Japanese military, and finally, against the pro-Western regime of Chiang Kai-Shek.
Today, China may very well want to be a global hegemon again, and if "Unrestricted Warfare"---supposedly a copy of a super-secret Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) handbook---has any credibility, then China was the shadowy hand behind supposed Islamic radical and terrorist kingpin Osama bin Laden's devastating blow against the United States---China's only real rival---on 9/11.
Ask yourself this question: who *really* benefitted from the suicide attacks against the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001?
Did Yemeni-born rich-boy-gone-bad Osama bin Laden, and his brutal Islamist terrorist group Al Quaeda? Since 9/11, Osama and his iron lung have been confined to high Afghani mountain paths or the depths of caves, tracked by Delta Force and the blackest of U.S. Black Ops. It's true that President Bush has been criticized for not bringing us the head of OBL, but let's face facts: Osama is never going to enjoy a nice chardonnay at a plush restaurant on the Champs D'Elysees again.
Was it good for the Islamist movement? With terrorist redout and Islamist paradise Afghanistan having now gone through its first elections---ever---and elected the pro-Western Hamid Karzai, with women striding the streets of Kabul without chadors or burkhas---and with Iraq's Saddam Hussein hauled up out of his spider hole and elections soon to follow---you tell me.
Who gained? In the early days of the Bush presidency, a harsh spotlight had been fixed, by the White House, on the global spectre of rising Chinese adventurism. Warnings had been issued regarding Taiwan. Congress had convened to debate China's coveted Most Favored Nation status, an economic treat the Clinton White House had always proferred to Beijing. Then in April 2001 the silent war with China took a more heated turn, when an American EP-3 spy-plane was forced by a Chinese fighter jet (destroyed in the process) to crash-land on the Chinese-controlled island, with its crew held hostage by the Chinese government for 11 days, during which relations between the two countries were tense.
The stand-off crystallized a view in the White House that China was the new global threat, and forces---and resources---were mobilized by the Bush strategy team to re-assess the U.S. strategy towards this potential global hegemon.
And then the brutal attacks on 9/11 occurred, and our view shifted over to Islamic fundamentalism. Who gained?
According to this military review meant for China's senior deicision makers, the United States may have the strongest military on Earth, but its citizenry---and its political chattering classes, best embodied by the mainstream media and the New York Times---have an aversion to body count. The writing is terse and dry---calling to mind Zen Koans or the astringent military tactics of Chairman Mao himself---but the overall meaning of "Unrestricted Warfare" is clear: hit the Enemy in his population centers, terrify his citizens, confuse and numb him, intimidate the citizenry with the prospect of thousands of flag-draped caskets riding home in military transports, and the battle for global supremacy can be won without facing a technologically superior foe on the battlefield.
This is changeless Chinese military policy, lifted from 4th century BC Sun Tzu to modern day China: strike with surprise, and strike hard. Never let the Enemy know where you're coming from. Use spies, assassins, messengers of terror.
The point here is not to disparage China: she has her own interests, as well she should, and pursues them as any great power ought to. I have great respect for China, have always been fascinated with that beguiling land, and am stunned by the rapidity with which Mao took a humiliated third-world nation and turned it into a military and economic giant. But if China has its future strategy with regard to the U.S., mapped out, we---if only to secure the blessings of liberty for our posterity---must be ready for her. "Unrestricted Warfare" is a first step in mapping out the uncertain road ahead.
Rating:
Summary: This is totally misleading
Review: Especially the cover of the book. I am very dissapponted about those people who said China was linked to al-Queda, WITHOUT any clue. As to my knowledge, this book just described some stragety will be used in the war, just as common as "the art of war".
Rating:
Summary: Stupid
Review: How come to use WTC as the cover of the book since China has nothing to do with that? The most stupid thing is that some Americans take this money-collecting book seriously as a Chinese government tactics plan. Aha, finally they found something to fit their coldwar-washed brains.
Rating:
Summary: China - US : A topic never out of fashion
Review: I almost fell down from my chair when I read the subtitle - "... Master Plan to Destory America " - Very laughable subtitle to boost the sales by the publisher, NOT the authors, though. I don't have to read this book to write this review - well, maybe I should - having stayed in China and US in the past 30 years, I feel I am not worried about any "master plan to destroy" in either side. First, just because China is such a big country and the most populous one in the world doesn't mean China would ( and could ) dominate the world. Yeah, it's growing at 7-9% every year in the last two decades, but it doesn't mean anything compared to the GDP of US / Japan - I mean not yet. Second, anyone who knows Chinese culture or ever visits China will know what it's about China. People love their country more than everyone else in the world, period. Many are still poor farmers and workers but they're just like anyone here in the States - friendly, nice, peaceful-thinking, aspiration for democracy and prosperity, etc. Thinking of them as a group who'd plan to destroy any country is not only laughable, but also guilty and offensive. Last, 911 might cause Americans overcautious and oversensitive, yet not to dig deep for the root causes of this tragedy. It's quite easy to divert people's attention to a "tangible" threat - be it Iraq, Iran, North Korea, or "plan-to-destory-America'ed China" - but it's perhaps more meaninful and useful to ask America leaders over and over - Why do you think people in other countries want to destory America, at all ? If they can't answer this question in a purely honest and non-political way (which I doubt), I am sure there'll be plenty of such books with subtitles like "Korea/Japan/France/Germany/Syria/Italy/...'s Master Plan to destroy America" on the way. Easy, Americans.
Rating:
Summary: IT IS THE TIME FOR US TO OPEN OUR EYES
Review: I found it naive to relate China with al-Qaeda in this book.
It is also irresponsible to match your pseudo-enemy, China, with such terrorist groups like al-Qaeda.
Open your eyes, American. China is suffering from the independence movement (e.g. Bombing) in Northwest part of China. Those terrorists who participated violently in the movement are believed to be trained in al-Qaeda's camp in Afghanistan. How can a country who is against al-Qaeda relates to such terrorist group?
Using the basic login you learnt in high school, you will know that predicting something is different from actually participating in it. Countries like United States and China, who are suffered from terrorists attack, will have their research in what terrorist will do. If those prediction are really a plan for China, will it be published in public? How can you know president Jiang looked the plane crashing picture again and again? How can you know he looked at it because he liked it, but not because he was stunned by it?
Meanwhile, the opinion of two people in an army does not mean it is the main idea of the whole China. Suppose there are somebody in the US Army who have racial discrimation. Does that mean the whole US Army is racial discrimination?
For those of you who really believe those unreasonable words because of one book like this, open your eyes! It is a very dangerous idea to treat China as enemy just because of a rumor like this! It is always good to have one more friend than an enemy. China knows that, so they keep avoiding having conflict with United States.
Think twice before you believe that China is related to al-Qaeda. Communist are Atheist. Are you catagorizing the Atheist with the Muslim extremist? Should you just believe in somebody who wants a good sales of his book, and make irresponsible critics about China?
I shall be glad if the freedom lovers, American citizens, can be unbiased and think carefully in that topic.
Rating: 
Summary: Truth Scares Some readers
Review: I have lived in Asia not just visited there. My degreed studies in Asian Studies and an understanding of two Asian languages and being married to an Asian lady gives me an insight to the thinking and traditional values and customs on the region. Many of your so called Customer reviews are clearly individuals that are attempting to cover and rewrite the history of our former leader giving our biggest enemy the technology to kill millions of Americans. Their opinions rate with the British that spoke against Churchill when he and others warned of the treachery of Hitler and the third Reich. The obvious attack by one of your rates on the "hawks" in the US is a clear socialist buzz word that has no bearing on this well written and detailed book. The book is very consistent with the Teaching of Sun Tzu and other Chinese History and is completely believable to any reader with an understanding of the material. The Book details some Information that is only known in some circles high above that of the average civilian. A good read with many good warnings. Not for the weak between the ears.
Rating:
Summary: Another of those CIA manual. What a marketing trick!
Review: I have to admit that the promotors of the book did an execellent job in adding a spicy cover and provoking subtitle to the book. I am quite sure it will sell well: what else can be more enticing than gossipping on the conspiracy to destroy the world's only superpower by an upcoming superpower? I think this book is a must read for anyone who is interested in the geopolitical environment in the next few decades. However, the readers are encourage to read, ponder, and take the stuff with a grain of salt.
|
