China's National Defense Strategy Evolution (1949-2002),

In the middle period of the 1980s, following the transitions of the guidelines of China's national defense and army building, the researches on the national defense strategy became a major task in China's military academic circles. But the researches at that time, in general, concentrated on a respect of the national defense strategy, namely the development strategy of modernizing China's national defense. At the turn of the century, not only does the tide of revolution in military affairs all over the world make those researches urgent, but the situation of China's national security which is in the face of the threatening - both traditionally and non-traditionally - coming from both at home and abroad makes it even more urgent and realistic to research on how to use the aggregate defensive strength to defend the country against violations of its stability, infringement upon its sovereignty and interests of development and existence made by hostile forces at home and abroad.This dissertation, based on the historical documents and data collected presently, using Marxist basic position and view, adopting traditional historiography and system method, tries to make a macroscopical and comprehensive investigation into the formulation, development and practice of China's defense strategy in the last half of the 20th century, summing up those experiences and lessons in the hope of offering suggestions and revelations for our future national defense pursuits.This dissertation is made up of introduction , text and conclusion.The introduction says it is a urgent task to make a correct national defense strategy because China national defense is still in the face of the threatening coming from traditional and non-traditional security factors and hegemonism at the turn of the century. Thus, it is a very important theoretical and practical task to summarize and draw the experiences and lessons scientifically from the practice of the formulation and carrying out of the national defense strategy since the founding of the PRC with the aim of supplying much food for thought and warnings to those behind.The text consists of six chapters. Chapter 1 is the exploration tentatively: " building while fighting, and resistance against U.S. by allying with the Soviet Union " (1949-1956). The chapter, for the first time in the academic arena, makes a study of the period of the first seven years since the founding of the PRC as a whole of a important exploration of new China's defense strategy. It points out that the frame of the national defense strategic thought reflected the requirements of national defense building by the national development strategy and embodied the historical logic of combining the long-term objective of the national defense building with the reality the PRC faced at that time. Both the achievements of national defense and army building during that period and the victory of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-1953) attested that the strategic thought is correct .Chapter 2 is the first strategy: " the active defense, and defending the country from suddenly attack by enemies " (1956- 1964). The chapter first explains the background, main ideas and impact of china's first defense strategy formulated in 1956 after seven years' exploration of national defense building. Then it gives a systematic summation of China's national defense buildings and national defense struggles under the direction of this strategy, especially in terms of the defense strategy, of the struggle experiences in two Taiwan Straits crises and the war of Sino-India border(1962), and puts forth the independent views of these major and significant events.Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 are the whole nation just before war: "Being prepared against fighting early, fighting big, and fighting nuclear war"(1964-1985). The main contribution of chapter 3 is that it gives a delineation of how the national defense strategy of " Being prepared against fighting early, fighting big, and fighting nuclear war" came i...