ABSTRACT
Since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, China’s search for security has gone through several broad phases. The combination of enforced isolation and weakness prompted China to make a virtue out of the necessity of self-sufficiency. The original idea of using revolutions in nonindustrialized nations to attack and weaken the capitalist countries was first evolved by Rosa Luxemburg and Lenin. China was behaving like any other state; national self interest took precedence over ideology. Favorable state-to-state relations counted for more than revolutionary potential. The full-fledged Chinese model of people’s wars of national liberation (PWNL) was not set forth until September 1965 when Lin Piao delivered a major address on the topic. Both the US and China saw Vietnam as the ultimate proving ground for the PWNL potential. Both the balance of power diplomacy and especially the international united front tactics require that PWNL be deemphasized in practice, although the rhetoric on the subject continues.
