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Changing Concepts of Doctrine, Strategy and Operations in the Chinese People's Liberation Army 1978–87*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Paul H. B. Godwin
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Extract

Introduction Since the late 1970s, when the current programmes seeking to modernize China's defence establishment began, issues of military doctrine, strategy and operations have remained at the forefront of China's quest for a defence capacity capable of being ranked among the world's great powers. As the Chinese leadership contemplated defence modernization, they could not but recognize the Janus-like quality of their armed forces. One face looked back on the people's war traditions that served them so well and for so long, while the other faced the complexities of conventional and strategic nuclear warfare and deterrence in the latter part of the 20th century.

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 112 , December 1987 , pp. 572 - 590
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1987

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References

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47. Ibid.

48. Ibid. p. K33.

49. Ibid. p. K30.

50. Ibid. p. K31.

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