K. Tristan Tang
For the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in the AI era, dissipative warfare could be the theory that replaces attrition with a strategy focused on maintaining internal order and creating disorder in an adversary’s system.
The strategy reflects a broader emphasis on intelligentized warfare within the PLA, prioritizing information dominance, algorithms, and systemic disruption over population, resources, or industrial capacity.
The Chinese military likely will adopt dissipative warfare to some degree.
On September 10, the PLA Daily’s military forum published an article by Wang Ronghui (王荣辉) titled “From Attrition Warfare to Dissipative Warfare: An Analysis of the New Transformation in Winning Intelligentized Wars (从消耗战到耗散战——试析智能化战争制胜方式新变革).” [1] He had previously published “Dissipative Warfare: A Typical Form of Intelligentized Warfare (耗散战：智能化战争典型方式)” in the same outlet on May 9, 2023 (PLA Daily, May 9, 2023; September 10). Wang argues that, in the era of artificial intelligence (AI), dissipative warfare (耗散战) differs from traditional attrition warfare and that the key to victory in both strategic competition and combat lies in maintaining order within one’s own system while creating disorder within the adversary’s system. Multiple signs indicate that the People’s Liberation Army will likely adopt this concept to some degree.
A Theory of Intelligentized Conflict
Wang defines dissipative warfare as a form of intelligentized warfare under conditions of nuclear deterrence. It reduces the degree of bloodshed but intensifies political isolation, economic blockades, and diplomatic strangulation. It is enabled by the fusion of military systems to generate comprehensive combat power (综合战力), creating sudden external changes that combine material consumption, energy dissipation, and information diffusion. [2] Crucially, Wang argues, the PLA can conduct dissipative warfare in both wartime and peacetime.
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