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China Doctrine, Strategy, and Tactics
From the early 1950s until the mid-1970s, people's war remained
China's military doctrine. The PLA's force structure, however,
which came to include nuclear weapons as well as artillery, combat
aircraft, and tanks, did not reflect the concept of people's war.
In the late 1970s, Chinese military leaders began to modify PLA
doctrine, strategy, and tactics under the rubric of "people's war
under modern conditions." This updated version of people's war
lacked a systematic definition, but it permitted Chinese military
leaders to pay tribute to Mao's military and revolutionary legacy
while adapting military strategy and tactics to the needs of modern
conventional and nuclear warfare. Elaborating on Mao's concept of
active defense--tactically offensive action with a defensive
strategy--Chinese strategy was designed to defeat a Soviet invasion
before it could penetrate deeply into China. Chinese strategists
envisaged a forward defense, that is, near the border, to prevent
attack on Chinese cities and industrial facilities, particularly in
north and northeast China. Such a defense-in-depth would require
more positional warfare, much closer to the border, in the initial
stages of a conflict. This strategy downplayed the people's war
strategy of "luring in deep" in a protracted war, and it took into
account the adaptations in strategy and tactics necessitated by
technological advances in weaponry. The PLA emphasized military
operations using modernized, combined arms tactics for the dual
purpose of making the most effective use of current force structure
and of preparing the armed forces for more advanced weaponry in the
future.
The doctrine of "people's war under modern conditions" also
incorporated the use of strategic and tactical nuclear weapons.
China's own nuclear forces, which developed a second-strike
capability in the early 1980s, provided Beijing with a credible, if
minimum, deterrent against Soviet or United States nuclear attack.
China repeatedly has vowed never to use nuclear weapons first, but
it has promised retaliation against a nuclear attack. Chinese
strategists also evinced an interest in tactical nuclear weapons,
and the PLA has simulated battlefield use of such weapons in
offensive and defensive exercises.
Data as of July 1987
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