Peking's Evolving Concept of Military Security and Implications for the United States.
Abstract
The Hua-Kuo-feng regime in China plans a comprehensive program to modernize China by the end of the century, with priority for the development of infrastructure and basic industry and considerable reliance on advanced technology obtained from abroad. The modernization program is based on a return to a Maoist style resembling that of the 1950's, when China was the beneficiary of a massive transfer of technology from the U.S.S.R. and made rapid economic progress. One aspect of later Maoism remains unchanged--the preoccupation with the pervasive military and political threat of the USSR. The regime recognizes that the Chinese armed forces, while impressive for their numerical size and nuclear capability, are seriously handicapped by obsolescence of equipment. In the military phases of the modernization program, the emphasis will be on developing domestic production capabilities through licensing and other arrangements rather than on procuring military end items. The mutuality of interest between China and the United States lies almost entirely in the anti-Soviet orientation of both countries, and is limited by the fact that Peking professes to believe that war with the USSR is inevitable and that therefore arms control efforts and other aspects of detente are not only futile but dangerous.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1978
- Accession Number
- ADA064380
Entities
People
- Peter W. Colm
Organizations
- Institute for Defense Analyses