ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that China's military doctrines are being driven by technological considerations but that technology itself presents China with a variety of dilemmas. Western and Soviet military policies, defense budgets, and national priorities are shaped, in part, by theoretical constructs on the use of force, the requirements and consequences of modern warfare, and the role of specific weapons systems. The Chinese evaluate conditions in international politics according to the prevailing balance or "correlation" of forces in the world. The Chinese consider the Soviet military buildup a sword raised against China and a part of Moscow's larger strategy of intimidation and nuclear blackmail. China's positions on nuclear arms and nuclear deterrence are both shaped by its enduring principles on the use of military force. People's Republic of China military doctrines derive from divergent origins — China's history of conventional and revolutionary war, its culturally and ideologically biased views of enemies and threats, and its growing arsenal of modern weapons.
