Message to Our Military Commanders

Message to Our Military Commanders

The Sino-Russian "combination play" strategy, first outlined by Soviet Marshal V.D. Sokolovskiy, KGB General N. Mironov, and other strategists in the late 1950s, is a coordinated, multi-dimensional approach that has evolved to become a key aspect of China and Russia's grand strategy today. This strategy leverages complementary military, political, and diplomatic strengths to achieve shared geopolitical goals without formal alliance structures.

Historical Origin

Originating from Cold War Soviet strategic doctrine, the "combination play" strategy envisaged a joint Sino-Soviet approach blending China’s rising geopolitical influence and Russia’s traditional military power. It emphasised combining strengths in military exercises, intelligence operations, and political coordination to create pressure points against common adversaries, principally NATO and the U.S.

Current Status

In 2025, Sino-Russian military cooperation remains strong but informal, explicitly eschewing any formal alliance. Instead, deep military ties centre on arms sales, joint military exercises, and coordinated patrols, such as air and naval operations near Alaska and in the Indo-Pacific. China increasingly takes the lead in joint military exercises, signalling a shift in the power dynamic from Russia to China due to Russia’s military strain from its war in Ukraine and China’s rising capabilities.

Key Elements of the Strategy

The strategy's key elements focus on complementary military, political, and intelligence integration to counter U.S. influence. This includes coordinated exercises (land, air, and naval), political and diplomatic synchronisation, intelligence and strategic coordination, a focus on hybrid warfare and strategic ambiguity, and nuclear and strategic posturing.

Potential Implications for the United States

The "combination play" strategy presents a multi-domain strategic challenge for Washington. It increases the complexity of U.S. defense planning, requiring simultaneous attention to threats in the Indo-Pacific, Arctic, and Central Asia with a coordinated adversary employing hybrid and conventional capabilities. The joint training in nuclear strike capabilities and proximity to U.S. defense zones (Alaska, Guam) heighten the risk of miscalculations or escalation in crisis scenarios.

As the "combination play" strategy adapts to modern geopolitical realities, it remains a flexible and hybrid model of Sino-Russian cooperation, rooted in Cold War theory but adapted to the twenty-first century with China’s rising dominance and Russia’s strategic pivot toward partnership under duress.

Meanwhile, separate intelligence suggests a potential long-range strategy by China, aiming to collapse the U.S. economy, exploit political instability, and launch a surprise military attack. This strategy includes a period of low-intensity asymmetrical warfare aimed at disrupting the United States and potentially collapsing the U.S. economy.

Two diversionary operations are part of this strategy: WMD gray terror attacks and a diversionary U.S. civil war scenario. The strategic sequence includes civil unrest in cities, intensification of ideological differences, and growing popular dissatisfaction with the government. The goal of this strategy is to collapse the U.S. economy, exploit the political instability, and launch a surprise military attack.

These developments underscore the need for the U.S. to stay vigilant and adaptive in the face of evolving geopolitical challenges.

1. The "combination play" strategy, a key aspect of China and Russia's grand strategy today, was initially outlined by Cold War Soviet strategists, including Marshal V.D. Sokolovskiy and KGB General N. Mironov.
2. In the 21st century, this strategy has evolved, with China's rising dominance and Russia's strategic pivot, to include a focus on hybrid warfare, strategic ambiguity, and nuclear and strategic posturing.
3. The implications of this strategy for the United States are significant, presenting a multi-domain strategic challenge that requires simultaneous attention to threats in various regions, such as the Indo-Pacific, Arctic, and Central Asia.
4. Separate intelligence suggests a potential long-range strategy by China, aiming to collapse the U.S. economy, exploit political instability, and launch a surprise military attack. This strategy includes a period of low-intensity asymmetrical warfare aimed at disrupting the United States.
5. As the U.S. navigates these evolving geopolitical challenges, it is crucial to remain vigilant and adaptive, maintaining security in the face of various threats, including those that may involve military warfare, political instability, intelligence operations, and crime and justice.

Read also: