ABSTRACT
Chinese naval strategy changed very little during the decade of the 1960s, but perceptions of maritime threats shifted somewhat during the period. The United States, viewed throughout the decade as the primary maritime threat to China, was joined, in Chinese eyes, by a rearmed Japan. The perceived threat to China posed by the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force was the subject of particularly harsh criticism during Lin Biao's last year in power, 1971. During the 1960s, the Soviet Pacific Fleet was the stepchild of the Soviet navy, lagging far behind the Northern, Baltic, and Black Sea fleets in the acquisition of new naval ships and weapons. The more fanciful aspects of this supposed strategic doctrine were meant only to serve political purposes, but the constraints of the Cultural Revolution period also kept the navy from privately developing a new naval strategy.
