Prominent universities like Peking University, Tsinghua University and Fudan University last year opened courses called "The Art of War and Business Strategy" and similar titles as required subjects in Chinese Studies classes taught to CEOs.

The People's Liberation Army has formally adopted "The Art of War", edited by the Academy of Military Science, as a training text for all officers, and this year began to lecture on the treatise to senior foreign officers undergoing training in China.

The Chinese government has kicked off the "globalization" of the book. Signaling this was the inauguration in May of Sun Tzu Memorial Hall in his hometown of Suzhou on the occasion of his 2,518th birthday. Attending the event were over 150 "Art of War" experts from more than ten countries including Taiwan, Japan, Iran, the U.S and Malaysia. Sun Tzu Memorial Hall is scheduled to deliver online specialized "Art of War" lectures created for bureaucrats, business managers and graduate students.

More notable is the fact that Chinese leaders personally apply, with success, the principles of the book at home and abroad. A case in point is the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation that closed Sunday in Sydney. The U.S., Japan and Australia held a security strategy summit, the first of its kind, in a bid to build a "net" encircling China. Chinese President Hu Jintao meanwhile didn't denounce the meeting or even show much concern about it. Instead, he secured a promise from Australia, a spoke of the trilateral alliance, to hold an annual security dialogue with China at a level identical with that of the U.S., and to supply China with one million tons of natural gas over the next 20 years.

Sun Tzu's strategies have also been applied in domestic politics. Hu, who has been on the defensive from the "regency power" of his predecessor Jiang Zemin, is solidifying his position by expanding his strength with patience and prudence rather than through fighting or confrontation. He recently managed to quietly replace his chief bodyguard, Director of the Central Guard Bureau You Xigui, 68, a close associate of Jiang who had held the post for a decade.

Applied here is this core idea of the treatise: "It's better to win without a fight than to fight 100 wars and win 100 wars." Hu displayed his admiration for the book by presenting copies to U.S. President George W. Bush and his staff last May.

How about turning attention to ourselves? The "war with the press" the government launched upon its inauguration has no end in sight; rifts with the U.S. and Japan under the excuse of self-reliance remain unmended. And now the administration has sued the leading opposition presidential nominee, waging an unprecedented "war with the opposition" toward the end of its tenure.

"The best military strategy is to crush the enemy's intent beforehand; the worst military strategy is to directly attack the enemy's castle," Sun Tzu wrote. Will we ever have an advanced leader who could impress Sun Tzu? A leader worthy of guiding the 10th largest economy in the world?

This column was contributed by Song Eui-dal, the Chosun Ilbo’s correspondent in Hong Kong.