Date of Graduation
Spring 2026
Degree
Master of Science in Defense & Strategic Studies
Department
School of Defense & Strategic Studies
Committee Chair
James Anderson
Abstract
The rise of the People's Republic of China as a peer competitor to the United States constitutes the defining geopolitical challenge of the twenty-first century, but even so, Western strategic analysis has consistently failed to engage China on its own terms. The recurrent pattern of Western misinterpretation results from projecting Western assumptions onto a state whose institutional and cultural drivers operate under fundamentally different premises, where key elements of Chinese strategic culture and the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) instrumentalization of Confucianism as a moral veil are instruments of domestic legitimacy and external strategic narrative. The United States must recognize that the balance of strategic competition with China is increasingly falling in the favor of the Chinese due to the inability to comprehend a deep working knowledge of their non-Western culture, and that without understanding this background, Western strategy will not successfully grasp the inner workings of Chinese strategic culture. This in turn has and will create a more destabilized environment based on assumption, and one where we do not possess the tools to see through the deception conducted by the Chinese state in fulfilling their grand strategy. This thesis attempts to incorporate all of these factors into a revised strategy tailored to the specific strategic culture, internal fears, and long-range planning horizons that define Chinese decision-making under Xi Jinping. The goal is not the defeat of China, but the construction of a strategy capable of defending democratic sovereignty in a world shaped by enduring great power competition.
Keywords
China, Confucianism, strategic culture, Xi Jinping, grand strategy, competition
Subject Categories
Asian Studies | International Relations | Military History | Other Political Science | Political History | Sociology of Culture
Copyright
© Owen Miller
Recommended Citation
Miller, Owen, "Confucian Thought as a Strategic Veil: How Western Strategy Should Correctly Compete With China" (2026). Graduate Theses/Dissertations. 4172.
https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/4172
Open Access
Included in
Asian Studies Commons, International Relations Commons, Military History Commons, Other Political Science Commons, Political History Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons
