Planners in the US Department of Defense ask, “what does winning look like?” The Communist Party of China makes that hard to describe by waging war below the level of the Defense Department’s dated description of war.

A broad comparison of daily life may help frame or generate an answer.

In the United States, we generally trust our neighbors. If our party gets loud, our grass grows long, or our trash spills in the street, our neighbors roll their eyes and come talk to us before calling the police. In the PRC, neighbors act as police. Reporting others’ violations of propriety or regulations lowers the offenders’ social credit scores and may raise the reporters’ scores. Neighbors in the PRC learn to actively distrust each other.

For Americans, degrading trust in each other constitutes loss. Winning includes building, extending, and maintaining trust. Ironically, winning is the same for Chinese people. Just not for the Communist Party of China.