Abstract
The Chinese slogan for defence development in since 1977 has been people’s war under modern conditions. To understand the implications of this statement in present and future defence planning, it is necessary to examine first the original concept of ‘people’s war’, prior to any analysis of the meaning of ‘modern conditions’, and then to examine the phrase as a whole.
One of the great characteristics of Mao’s military thought is its flexibility. Many elements can be changed while arguing that nothing has changed.
Gerald Segal, 19821
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Notes and References
Kenneth Hunt, ‘Sino-Soviet Theater Force Comparisons’, in Douglas T. Stuart and William T. Tow (eds), China, the Soviet Union, and the West - Strategic and Political Dimensions in the 1980s, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1982, p. 107.
Henri Jomini, The Art of War, Greenwood Press, USA, 1971, p. 31.
Sun Tzu, The Art of War (trans. Samuel B. Griffith), Oxford University Press, London, 1963, p. 85.
Walter Laqueur, Guerrilla: A Historical and Critical Study, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1977, p. 241.
Quoted in Samuel B. Griffith II, The Chinese People’s Liberation Army, 2nd edn, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1968, p. 102.
Harlan W. Jencks, ‘Strategic Deception in the Chinese Civil War’, in Donald C. Daniel and Katherine L. Herbig (eds), Strategic Military Deception. Pergamon Press. USA. 1982. D. 288.
Carl Von Clausewitz, On War, vol. 1, book 2, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1949, p. 100.
Hajo Holborn, ‘Moltke and Schlieffen: The Prussian—German School’, in Edward Mead Earle (ed.), Makers of Modern Strategy, Princeton University Press, USA, 1973, p. 179.
Quoted in Richard Simpkin, Race to the Swift: Thoughts on Twenty-First Century Warfare, Brassey’s Defence Publishers, London, 1985, p. 55.
It is also significant that the writings of Clausewitz (which had influenced Lenin) are of continued interest to the PLA. This is evidenced by the inclusion of a chapter on Clausewitzian strategic thought in its 1985 Handbook of Military Knowledge for Commanders, parts of which are translated in US Joint Publications Research Service [hereafter, JPRS], China Report, 7 Mar. 1988, pp. i-439.
Paddy Griffith, Forward into Battle: Fighting Tactics from Waterloo to Vietnam. Antony Bird Publications, London. 1981. no. 107–8.
Liddell Hart, The Strategy of Indirect Approach, Faber & Faber, London, 1941.
Institute of Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (comp.), Stories About Not Being Afraid of Ghosts, 2nd edn, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1979, pp. 8–9, 51–4.
Ralph N. Clough, East Asia and U.S. Security, The Brookings Institute, Washington, 1975, p. 60.
Gerald Segal, Defending China, Oxford University Press, USA, 1985, ch. 2.
For further background, consult Ching Ping and Dennis Blood-worth, The Chinese Machiavelli: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Statecraft, Secker & Warburg, London, 1976;
and Edward S. Boylan, ‘The Chinese Cultural Style of Warfare’, Comparative Strategy, vol. 3, no. 4, 1982, pp. 341–64.
Eric Robert Wolf, ‘Peasant Wars of the Twentieth Century’, in Janson L. Finkle and Richard W. Gable (eds), Political Development and Social Change, 2nd edn, Wiley, USA, 1971, p. 618.
June Teufel Dreyer, ‘The Chinese People’s Militia: Transformation and Strategic Role’, in Paul H.B. Godwin (ed.), The Chinese Defense Establishment: Continuity and Change in the 1980s, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1983, p. 183.
and Yang Dezhi, ‘A Strategic Decision on Strengthening the Building of Our Army in the New Period’, in FBIS, Daily Report: People’s Republic of China, 8 August 1985, pp. K1–7.
See, for example, Wang Zhiyun and Jiang Shaowei, ‘An Inch of I.and - Notes on Yunnan Border Area’s Defense,’ Renmin Ribao, 12 August 1983, p. 4, in JPRS, China Report, 11 October 1983, p. 84, in which the slogans ‘fight for every inch of land’ and ‘fight to the death in defense of our positions’ are noted. Also of interest is the emphasis given to the defence of cities. Veteran marshal and Politburo member, Nie Rongzhen [Nieh Jung-chen], speaking at the 1978 National Militia Conference, stated: ‘Cities ... are our political, economic, and cultural centers and pivots of communication, and will be the enemy’s main targets for sabotage and capture. The defense and security of cities is of great significance to stabilizing the war situation, preserving our war potentials and supporting a protracted war’ (FBIS, Daily Report: People’s Republic of China, 9 August 1978, p. E7.) In another speech, delivered to the City Defence Symposium held in 1980 and reported by Jilin Ribao in March of that year, the First Secretary of the Jilin provincial party committee, Wang Enmao, said: ‘We should consider city defence construction as a strategic issue and never underestimate its importance.’ (Cited by Lee Ngok, ‘Chinese Strategic Thinking’, op. cit., p. 17.) Finally, the Com-manders’ Handbook, loc. cit., devotes attention to this within its section, ‘Defensive Warfare’.
Ellis Joffe, The Chinese Army After Mao, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1987, p. 84.
Basic Military Knowledge Writing Group, Basic Military Knowledge, 2nd edn, People’s Publishing House, Shanghai, 1975, ch. 7 and part of ch. 3 translated from Chinese in C.V. Chester and C.H. Kearny (eds), Chinese Civil Defense: Excerpts from Basic Military Knowledge, National Technical Information Service, USA, 1977.
Alastair I. Johnston, ‘Chinese Nuclear Force Modernization: Implications for Arms Control’, Journal of Northeast Asian Studies, vol. 2, 1983, p. 19.,
This type of adversary propaganda is apparent in the clandestine radio broadcasts examined in Rosita Dellios, ‘Clandestine Radio Broadcasts to China in Relation to PLA Dissatisfaction with the Chinese Leadership; in Proceedings of the 27th Annual Conference of the Australian Political Studies Association, Adelaide, 28–30 August 1985, vol. 3, pp. 360–94.
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© 1990 Rosita Dellios
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Dellios, R. (1990). People’s War: A Conceptual Odyssey. In: Modern Chinese Defence Strategy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-11049-0_2
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