Classic Form: Deceive your enemy into climbing onto a roof—a high, exposed, and inescapable position—by offering them bait. Once they are up there, remove the ladder, leaving them trapped and at your mercy.
Modern Version: Entice foreign companies or countries into a position of deep dependency on your platforms, markets, or supply chains. Once they are fully committed and have no viable alternatives, change the rules, impose new regulations, or cut off access to trap them and extract concessions.
AI-Powered Execution: An AI system models the dependency of a target entity on a specific platform, technology, or supply chain. It encourages deeper integration and investment until its model shows that the target has reached a point of no return—the "top of the roof." At that moment, the AI signals that it is time to "remove the ladder." This can trigger an automated change in terms of service, a targeted supply cut of a critical component, or a sudden regulatory shift, leaving the target trapped and vulnerable to coercion.
CCP Application: The CCP encourages foreign companies to expand their manufacturing and R&D operations in China, offering tax breaks and other incentives to lure them onto the "roof". Once these companies have transferred their technology and become dependent on Chinese labor and supply chains, the CCP "removes the ladder" by imposing new laws that demand access to their intellectual property, favoring local competitors, or restricting their ability to move profits out of the country. The promotion of TikTok follows a similar pattern: encourage mass adoption and deep integration into the cultural and commercial life of a country, then use the threat of throttling reach or manipulating content to coerce political outcomes.
Collaborators: Corporations that, driven by greed, walk onto the roof and willingly hand over the ladder in exchange for short-term market access. Labor unions in the West that supported offshoring to China, only to find their industries and members now dependent on a supply chain controlled by a geopolitical adversary.
Counter: Always plan for betrayal. Build redundancy and optionality into all supply chains and technological dependencies. Keep your own ladder by developing and maintaining your own exit path before you climb onto anyone else's roof.