Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book transformations that befell China's military procurement from the late 1970s through the early 2000s centered on the attempt to define the optimal combination of development of strategic and asymmetrical force on the one hand and buildup of the army's conventional services on the other. It deals with the military procurement policy of the Communist regime in the Maoist period. The book reviews in general outline the organs that participated in China's military procurement, the relations among them, and the patterns of activity and chief developments of the CDIC from 1949 to the 2000s. It shows how these changes came about, and how, besides strategic considerations the US becoming the sole superpower and China's realization of how far its military lagged behind political and economic considerations also played an important part in the procurement process.