Classic Form: When invited into someone's house as a guest, gradually and subtly expand your influence and control until you have effectively become the master of the house. The initial host is now subordinate to you in their own domain.
Modern Version: Enter foreign systems—educational institutions, trade organizations, technology standards bodies, media platforms—as a participant ("guest"). Over time, through strategic investment, personnel placement, and rule manipulation, gradually take control of those systems, turning them into instruments of your own power ("host").
AI-Powered Execution: AI systems can model the power dynamics within a host institution, such as a university, a corporation, or an international standards body. The AI identifies the key leverage points—critical committees, influential positions, foundational policy documents—and advises on a long-term, incremental strategy of influence. This involves moving from "guest" (participant) to "host" (rule-setter) by placing key personnel, shaping foundational policies, and becoming the central control hub over time.
CCP Application: Confucius Institutes began as "guests" on Western university campuses, offering language classes and cultural programs. Over time, they sought to influence curriculum, censor academic discussions on topics sensitive to the CCP, and monitor Chinese students, effectively attempting to become the "host" controlling the discourse on China within the university. In the tech world, China enters international standards bodies as a participant, but through coordinated voting and the sheer volume of its technical contributions, it seeks to make its own proprietary technologies the global standard, forcing the rest of the world to become "guests" in its technological ecosystem.
Collaborators: University boards and leaders who, craving Chinese tuition dollars or research funding, cede control over curriculum and academic freedom to a foreign power. Western technology companies that fail to actively participate in standards-setting bodies, allowing the CCP to fill the vacuum and dictate the rules for future technologies.
Counter: Set hard, non-negotiable limits on foreign influence within sovereign institutions. Maintain ultimate control over what defines your nation's academic, technological, and cultural standards. You are the host; act like it. Never cede foundational rule-making authority to a guest whose interests are antithetical to your own.
Part Six: Deception, Seduction, and Total War (Stratagems 31-36)
The final phase of Total Domain Warfare involves the synthesis of all previous tactics into a seamless, overwhelming assault. These last six stratagems represent the culmination of the CCP's strategy, employing seduction, audacious bluffs, and the turning of an enemy's own assets against them. This is the endgame, where deception and manipulation escalate into a chained, multi-domain operation designed to achieve total victory—the complete cognitive and strategic paralysis of the adversary. AI is the critical enabler, perfecting the lures, managing the complex bluffs, and orchestrating the final, interlocking sequence of attacks.