A History of the Modern Chinese Army

8. Survivor and Reformer

  8  Survivor and Reformer PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON’S 1972 visit to China profoundly reshaped the Cold War world. First and foremost, it ended the confrontation between the United States and China that had lasted for almost a quarter century, thereby opening a new chapter in relations between the world’s most powerful nation and its most populous nation.1 Within the context of this Sino-American rapprochement, Beijing’s relations with Japan also improved. In September 1972, only months after Nixon’s visit, China and Japan established formal diplomatic relations. In 1978, the two countries went further and signed a treaty of friendship and cooperation. Consequently, a new, crucial feature of the Cold War in east Asia as well as in the world emerged: international politics became dominated by a specific “triangular structure.”2 Taking the “Soviet threat” as an overriding concern, Beijing and Washington established a “quasi strategic partnership.”3 To the crises of Vietnam’s invasion of Cambodia in 1979 and the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1980, Beijing ’s and Washington’s reactions were compatible—both condemned Hanoi and Moscow. Both also emphasized the interrelatedness of the events in Cambodia and Afghanistan, and both provided various types of support to resistance movements in these two countries.4 In January 1979, China and the United States established formal diplomatic relations . In February 1979, China invaded Vietnam with two hundred thousand PLA troops.   A History of the Modern Chinese Army From 1972 to 1989, the PLA experienced tremendous ups and downs that corresponded with international as well as domestic politics . With the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution sweeping across China, the PLA moved to the center of national politics in 1966–71. Then, after Lin Biao’s death and a series of purges, it moved out of the political arena. Mao brought back some of the government officials who had been purged during the Cultural Revolution. Among others, Deng Xiaoping was rehabilitated by Mao and appointed as a member of the Central Committee in 1973. As a survivor of the Cultural Revolution , Deng announced new military reforms in 1975 and tried to “repair the damage” done to the PLA during the Cultural Revolution.5 But soon Deng was dismissed by Mao again. After Mao’s death in 1976, Deng returned once more and launched unprecedented reforms in 1978. He opened China to the outside world to bring the Four Modernizations , including the modernization of defense, to the country. This chapter examines the military reforms in the late 1970s and the 1980s led by Deng Xiaoping, the second generation of Chinese leadership. Deng knew the PLA’s social and political problems. He sharply criticized its poor performance and declining morale during the Chinese-Vietnamese conflicts. The personal accounts of Colonel Zhi Zhanpeng of the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War and Private Xu Xiangyao of the 1984–85 Sino-Vietnamese border conflicts suggest strong implications for the PLA’s reform aspirations. This chapter highlights the gap between Deng’s goals and the limited resources available for military reforms in the 1980s. Many of these shortcomings became evident during the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident. Deng’s Return, Reform, and Restraints Between 1972 and 1989, the PLA’s fortunes fluctuated with Deng Xiaoping’s political career. During the Cultural Revolution, Deng was purged along with Liu Shaoqi as the head of the “bourgeoisie headquarters within the party” and ousted from the CCP and PLA hierarchy in 1966. Thereafter, Deng and his wife were placed under house arrest in Beijing for two years and then sent to Jiangxi to work in a tractor repair factory.6 After Lin’s death, in 1973, Mao brought Deng back to power as his vice premier. Deng was appointed as a member of the Central Committee and then chief of the PLA General Staff, vice Survivor and Reformer   chairman of the CMC, vice chairman of the Central Committee, and member of the Politburo Standing Committee in 1975.7 Deng announced new economic and military reforms in 1975. In contrast with previous reforms, Deng’s movement was not aimed at an American or a Soviet threat but instead addressed serious problems within the PLA. At a General Staff meeting in January 1975, Deng criticized the PLA for losing many of its “fine traditions” and being a “seriously bloated” organization. “An over-expanded and inefficient army is not combat-worthy.”8 At an expanded meeting of the CMC...