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China National Defense Science, Technology, and Industry Commission
Since the 1950s much of China's research and development effort
has been channeled into military work. Military research facilities
and factories are reported to have China's best-trained personnel,
highest level of technology, and first priority for funding.
Although the military sector has been shrouded in secrecy, its work
evidently has resulted in the largely independent development of
nuclear and thermonuclear weapons, intercontinental ballistic
missiles, nuclear submarines and submarine-launched ballistic
missiles, and the successful launch and recovery of communications
and reconnaissance satellites. Little information on the military
research sector has been made public, and secrecy has been
reinforced by isolation of many military research centers in the
remote deserts and mountains of China's western regions. The
overall level of China's military technology is not high by
international standards, and the achievements in nuclear weapons
and missiles have apparently resulted from projects featuring
concentrated resources, effective coordination of distinct
specialties and industries, and firm leadership directed at the
achievement of a single, well-defined goal. The style recalls the
1940s Manhattan Project in the United States, and the
accomplishments demonstrate the effectiveness of the Soviet-style
"big push" mode of organizing research and development.
The military sector has developed in comparative isolation from
the civilian economy, and until the 1980s its higher level of
skills made little contribution to the national economy. Throughout
the 1980s efforts have been made to break down some of the
administrative barriers separating the military and civilian
research and development systems. The military sector has been
relatively privileged, and the spirit of self-reliance has been
strong. Nevertheless, the rapid development of electronics and
computer applications in the 1970s and 1980s rendered much of
China's military industry obsolete. Consequently, pressure for more
contact between the military research units and civilian institutes
(which, with foreign contact and up-to-date foreign technology, may
surpass the technical level of the military institutes) may be
generated.
In 1987 the work of the military research institutes continued
to be directed by the State Council's National Defense Science,
Technology, and Industry Commission (NDSTIC). The NDSTIC was
created in 1982 with the merger of the National Defense Science and
Technology Commission, National Defense Industries Office, and
Office of the Science, Technology, and Armament Commission of the
party Central Military Commission. The NDSTIC functioned in a
manner similar to the State Science and Technology Commission,
concentrating on high-level planning and coordination across the
vertical chains of command in which military research institutes
and factories are organized.
Data as of July 1987
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