ABSTRACT
Two approaches serve to illuminate the issue of Chinese weapon systems development. The first views weapon systems development as a decision process, while the second sees it as a problem. Approaching weapon systems development from the technology transfer/innovation perspective allows additional insights. If Chinese military decisions can be considered to be needs-driven, and the needs are perceived as changing, then the process can be looked upon as a change, or innovation, process. Chinese statements concerning international politics have varied in detail over the past several years, but there is one constant, the Soviet threat. Given the Chinese industrial debt to the Soviet Union, it is useful to review what is known about the Soviet weapons development system. Tanks and other armor, of course, represent a mature technology. One solution to the Chinese modernization dilemma would be to turn to the international arms market.
