ABSTRACT
In the first half of the 1980s the Chinese leadership was already convinced that its main threat till then a military attack by the Soviet Union had almost disappeared. The Soviet Union was then facing growing financial difficulties in operating and maintaining its huge military establishment; at the same time, the hostility between Beijing and Moscow was diminishing due to the deepening rationality of China's foreign policy. Domestically, the reform policy succeeded in overcoming a number of crises and Deng Xiaoping secured his top political position. The domestic situation seemed to improve as well: as the reform policy's initial difficulties and dilemmas were addressed, the order of national priorities was set and agreed, and it became clear that the radical policy vicissitudes that prevailed during the Maoist period were left behind. The predominance of Deng's line in the military sphere was also demonstrated by the subordination of the PLA's demands to the goal of national economic development.
