Sun Tzu's military thinking is not the last word in strategy, but it is a source from which Western military and political leaders can learn much. It represents an approach to conflict against which the United States has enjoyed tactical success at the cost of strategic defeat. Seriously considering a strategic approach that influences East and Southeast Asian political and military strategy (especially that of China) will richly repay the effort. As Sun Tzu himself wrote:

    He who knows the enemy and himself
    Will never in a hundred battles be at risk;
    He who does not know the enemy but knows himself
    Will sometimes win and sometimes lose;
    He who knows neither the enemy nor himself
    Will be at risk in every battle.

Too often, American knowledge of its foes has been limited to easily measurable economic and military data, and it has overlooked the much more...