Fortifying China

Ming Cheung Tai

Description

Fortifying China explores the titanic struggle to turn China into an aspiring world-class military technological power. The defense economy is leveraging the country's vibrant civilian economy and gaining access to foreign sources of technology and know-how. Drawing on extensive Chinese-language sources, Tai Ming Cheung explains that this transformation has two key dimensions. The defense economy is being reengineered to break down bureaucratic barriers and reduce the role of the state, fostering a more competitive and entrepreneurial culture to facilitate the rapid diffusion and absorption of technology and knowledge. At the same time, the civilian and defense economies are being integrated to form a dual-use technological and industrial base. In Cheung's view, the Chinese authorities believe this strategy will play a key role in supporting long-term defense modernization.For China's neighbors and the United States, understanding China's technological, industrial, and military capabilities is critical to the formulation of economic and security policies. Fortifying China provides crucial insight into the impact of China's dual-use technology strategy. Cheung's "systems of innovation" framework considers the structure, dynamics, and performance of the defense economy from a systems-level perspective.

Sujets

• Military engineer
• History of Asia
• Economics
• China

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 avril 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801468506
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Fortifying China

Fortifying China

The Struggle to Build a Modern Defense Economy

Tai Ming Cheung

Cornell University Press ithaca and london

Copyright ©2009by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House,512East State Street, Ithaca, New York14850.

First published2009by Cornell University Press

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Cheung, Tai Ming,  Fortifying China : the struggle to build a modern defense economy / Tai Ming Cheung.  p. cm.  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN978–0–8014–4692–4(cloth : alk. paper) 1. China—Defenses—Economic aspects.2. Defense industries— Technological innovations—China.3. Militaryindustrial complex— China.4. China—Economic policy—1976–2000.5. China—Economic policy—2001– I. Title

HC430.D4C4472008 338.4'735500951—dc22

2008022864

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publish ing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing

10987654321

This book is dedicated to Ai,

to my mother, Woo Sok Yin,

and to the memory of my late father

Preface and Acknowledgments Abbreviations

Contents

1the CivilMilitary Technological Divide in the. Bridging Information Age Integrating the Civilian and Defense Economies2 China’s Enduring Quest for Wealth and Military Power5 The National Innovation Systems Framework9 Examining the Defense Economy through the NIS Prism13 Understanding How Defense Technological Innovation Takes Place16

2. Innovation and Stagnation during the Maoist Era The Building of the Conventional and Strategic Weapons Bases23 The Defense Economy’s Relationship with the Maoist NIS25 The Setup of the Conventional and Strategic Weapons Systems26 The Floundering of the Conventional Defense Industrial System31 Barriers to Conventional Weapons Innovation36 The Flourishing of the Strategic Weapons System40 The Consolidation of the Defense Economy in the Late1970s48

3. The Eclipse of the Defense Economy under Deng Xiaoping The Defense Economy and Its Relationship with the NIS in the1980s53 Defense Conversion60 The Impact of Conversion on the Defense Economy73

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1

22

52

Successes and Drawbacks of Conversion74 The Struggle to Overhaul the Legacy Defense Industrial Base 75 Key Activities of the System88 The State of the Defense Economy by the Late1990s98

Contents

4Revival of the Defense Economy in the. The Twentyfirst Century Setting the Stage for Bold Reforms102 The Relationship between the Defense and National Innovation Systems105 Reform and Consolidation Begin111 Key Activities of the Rejuvenated Defense Innovation System146 The Prospects for Catching Up and Leapfrogging170

5a DualUse Economy. Building From Defense Conversion to Dual Use and SpinOn177 Defining theYujun YuminDualUse Economy183 Chinese Approaches to CivilMilitary Integration and SpinOn197 Building Linkages between the Civilian and Defense Economies202 Harnessing Civilian High Technology Companies for Military Purposes215 The Geographical Landscape of Dual Use and CMI223 The Chinese Approach in Comparative Perspective227

6the Chinese Defense Economy Catch Up?. Can The TechnoNationalist Underpinning of the CatchUp Approach237 The Debate over China’s Military Technological Catching Up242 The Developmental Models for Catching Up245 Conditions for Technological Catching Up and the Case of the Space  Industry247 Policy Challenges for the United States258

Chinese Terms Historical Official Exchange Rates between the Renminbi  and U.S. Dollar,1955–2008 Select ChineseLanguage Bibliography Index

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101

176

235

263

265 267 273

Preface and Acknowledgments

An everpresent danger of writing about contemporary developments in a country changing as fast as China is that your topic can disappear or become irrelevant before you finish. In the midst of my first scholarly examination of the Chinese military’s involvement in commercial activities during the 1990s, the Chinese authorities abruptly ordered the army to divest from its moneymaking operations. That book consequently turned from the impe rious rise of the Chinese military business empire into a historical study of its entrepreneurial pursuits and ignominious demise. This time, I sought to avoid having events overtake me again. An abid ing interest in the political economy of security led me to focus on the nexus between economic development, technological innovation, and de fense modernization in China—which concerns the place of the defense economy in the country’s economic, technological, and military transfor mation. This topic undoubtedly has staying power, but it was not so obvi ous at the beginning of this century because the Chinese defense industry was floundering from decades of neglect and isolation. Over the course of this decade, though, the Chinese defense economy has risen from its sickbed and appears to be returning to good health. This book charts its painful recovery and examines how the defense economy is positioning itself at the heart of the country’s longterm revitalization and its quest to become a world power. “Defense economy” refers primarily to the defense technology and indus trial base: the combination of people, organizations, institutional rules, tech nological expertise, and production capacity that provide defenserelated

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