Abstract
If people’s war under modern conditions is to prove to be more than a slogan, it must ‘deliver’. This book supports the view that it can do so, and will endeavour to show how in this concluding chapter of Part I.
In a modern war, there is not much difference between the front and the rear, and the various areas may be cut off from each other. Hence the need to build the base rear areas into strategic bases capable of supporting a prolonged war and fighting on their own.
Xu Xiangjian, 19781
In the absence of enforceable international agreements to completely ban all nuclear weapons, it is likely that small tactical nuclear weapons will still be available. Strategic nuclear weapons, on the other hand, probably won’t exist.
M. Phillip Powell, 19872
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Notes and References
Speaking in his capacity as Defence Minister at the 51st anniversary of the PLA. (Quoted in Banning N. Garrett and Bonnie S. Glaser, War and Peace: The Views from Moscow and Beijing, Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 1984, p. 128.)
Bradley Hahn, Proceedings, March 1986, p. 119. 6. Of interest is Wong-Fraser’s comment on the meaning of the word ‘deterrence’ in Chinese: While frequently rejecting Western ideas and theories about deter-rence, the Chinese concept of deterrence, which is translated as hezu liliang (literally: the power to force inaction by frightening), can be simply embodied within pre-existing notions of war and politics: to win victory without fighting a war is the best strategy (bu jan er churen zhibing).
Magnus Clarke, ‘Nuclear Explosives and Nuclear Deterrence’, Book D, Australian Defence and Strategic Studies (ADASS), Deakin University, Victoria, 1985, p. 17. To illustrate the destructive potential of relatively few warheads, he adds that ‘the destruction of only the 50 largest cities [of the Soviet Union] would mean 20 per cent of its population as casualties and the destruction of 38 per cent of its industries’.
Lee Ngok, ‘Defending China: Chinese Air Land Battle - An Application of People’s War Under Modern Conditions’, conference paper, Asian Studies Association of Australia Biennial Conference, University of Sydney, May 1986, p. 3.
Charles Horner, ‘The Production of Nuclear Weapons’, in William W. Whitson (ed.), The Military and Political Power in China in the 1970s, Praeger New York 1972 n 242
Harry Gelber, Nuclear Weapons and Chinese Policy, Adelphi Paper No. 99, IISS, London, 1973, p. 24.
Magnus Clarke, work-in-progress paper, presently titled, Shadows of a European Defence Initiative, personal communication, Deakin University, August 1987.
Strong in maintaining the independence and self-reliance of Western Europe, France is worried that the US plan would cripple nuclear deterrence and render its independent arsenal powerless, so French leaders are suspicious of the US plan ... The United States, they contend, will not truly treat the West European nations as partners. Therefore, France put forward its Eureka proposal, which calls for a joint West European research effort in six new-born technologies. (Xing Hua, ‘SDI: Western Europe Faces Challenge’, Beijing Review, 5 August 1985, p. 24.) For Western commentary, see Peter J. Opitz, ‘China’s Policy Towards Western Europe’, Aussen Politik, vol. 36, no. 3, 1986, pp. 259–60.
Sun Tzu, The Art of War (trans. Samuel B. Griffith), Oxford University Press, London, 1963, p. 87.
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© 1990 Rosita Dellios
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Dellios, R. (1990). The Nuclear Guerilla. In: Modern Chinese Defence Strategy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-11049-0_4
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