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China FOREIGN MILITARY COOPERATION
In the 1950s China limited its military cooperation almost
entirely to communist nations and to insurgent movements in
Southeast Asia. The Soviet Union provided China with substantial
assistance, and with advice in modernizing the PLA and developing
China's defense industry
(see Military Modernization in the 1950s and 1960s
, this ch.). China provided North Korea with arms and
assistance, and the PLA and the Korean People's Army developed
close ties because of their association in the Korean War. In 1961
China and North Korea signed a mutual defense agreement, and
Chinese-North Korean military cooperation continued in the late
1980s. China also provided weapons and military and economic
assistance to Vietnam, which ended in 1978 when relations between
the two countries soured. In the 1950s and 1960s, China provided
weapons to communist insurgent groups in Laos, Cambodia, Burma,
Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
In the 1960s and 1970s, China began developing military ties
with Third World nations in Asia and Africa, while maintaining or
promoting cooperation with North Korea, the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam (North Vietnam), and Albania. Chinese military cooperation
with North Korea and North Vietnam stemmed from security
considerations. Chinese military assistance to Third World
countries arose from attempts to extend Chinese influence and
counteract Soviet and United States influence. China became
increasingly anti-Soviet in the 1970s. In the 1980s China developed
close military ties and provided considerable military assistance
to Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka in South Asia; Egypt in the
Middle East; and Tanzania, Sudan, Somalia, Zaire, and Zambia in
Africa.
In the late 1970s, the scope and tenor of foreign military
cooperation changed with the shift to commercial arms sales,
attempts to gain some influence in Eastern Europe, and improvement
in relations with the United States and Western Europe. Chinese
military assistance to communist insurgents, especially in
Southeast Asia, tapered off. Nevertheless, China continued to
provide weapons both to the Khmer Rouge and to noncommunist
Cambodian resistance groups, and it developed close relations with
and sold weapons to Thailand. Traditionally friendly states in
South Asia continued to have close military ties with China and to
purchase Chinese military hardware under generous terms. ChineseAlbanian relations deteriorated in the 1970s, and Beijing
terminated all assistance in 1978. But at the same time, China
began to exchange military delegations with two other East European
countries--Yugoslavia and Romania. Chinese military relations with
these two countries were limited and, especially in the case of
Romania (a Warsaw Pact member), served to irritate the Soviet
Union.
A major change in foreign military cooperation occurred when
China began developing military contacts with West European nations
and the United States in the late 1970s and the 1980s. This change
reflected China's desire to counter Soviet influence, especially in
Europe, as well as to develop relations with modern armed forces.
China needed advanced hardware and technology and organizational,
training, personnel, logistics, and doctrinal concepts for
modernizing the PLA. Chinese military ties with West European
countries were strongest with Britain, France, and Italy. Chinese
military relations with the United States developed rapidly in the
1980s and included exchanges of high-level military officials and
working-level delegations in training, logistics, and education.
The United States sold some weapons to China for defensive
purposes, but China was unlikely to purchase large amounts of
American arms because of financial and political constraints
(see Sino-American Relations
, ch. 12).
Beginning in 1979, when China introduced its policy of opening
up to the outside world, military exchanges with foreign countries
grew substantially
(see Historical Legacy and Worldview
, ch. 12).
The PLA hosted 500 military delegations from 1979 to 1987 and sent
thousands of military officials abroad for visits, study, and
lectures. China received port calls from thirty-three foreign
warships, including United States, British, French, and Australian
ships, and it sent two naval ships to visit Pakistan, Bangladesh,
and Sri Lanka in 1985. PLA departments, academies, and research
institutes opened their doors to foreign military visitors. In 1987
China had ties with eighty-five foreign armies, posted Chinese
military attaches in sixty countries, and hosted forty military
attaches in Beijing.
Data as of July 1987
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