ABSTRACT
This chapter scrutinizes the considerations behind the establishment of China's defense industry and its role in China's national defense, as well as the basic procurement approaches formulated in those early years. The establishment of a strong and modern army was defined by the Communist leadership in China as a vital national goal even before it rose to power. In January 1949 the CCP Central Committee issued a document titled "The Current Situation and the Party's Task in 1949". The procurement of modern weapons for the PLA was placed high in order of national priorities, and the establishment of a defense industry became one of the important goals in China's First Five-Year Plan. The weakness of state's technological-industrial infrastructure, the lack of technologically trained workers, and its economic hardships had hindered the construction of defense industries in the earlier years. Stalin's death in March 1953 and his replacement by Nikita Khruschev changed the Beijing Moscow relationship and the method of assistance.
