Changes and Continuities in Chinese Communism. Vol. I: Ideology, Politics, and Foreign Policy; Changes and Continuities in Chinese Communism. Vol. II: The Economy, Society and Technology
In the first volume of these collected essays there is a particularly informative piece by June Teufel Dryer on the difficulties in China's military modernization effort. The submarine program, the program to develop advanced fighters and the antitank missile program are all lagging. Meanwhile, service in the military is no longer regarded as desirable, since agricultural reforms have made it more profitable for young men to stay in their native villages. Dryer is also not impressed with China's adoption of NATO's Air-Land Battle strategy for dealing with an offensive threat, because the PRC is far from having the equipment to make such a strategy work.
At a time when China seems to be recentralizing its economy, Jan Prybyla's essay in volume II is worth reading. His main idea is that the mix of half plan, half market in China and Hungary (and, by implication, Gorbachev's Soviet Union) is not viable and that sooner or later either plan or market must prevail. Without further moves toward market, he argues, there will inevitably be retrogression toward the centrally administered command plan.
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