As I try to write a section in the dissertation on the principles of design behind the Chinese nuclear arsenal, I am confronted by the following two passages, both written by the eminent political scientist John Lewis (no relation):
“Zhang [Aiping] attached great importance to project JL-1, and soon after his appointment in March 1975, he visited the first and fourth academies and exhorted them to redouble their efforts in coordinating and promoting the project.” China’s Strategic Seapower (with Xue Litai), 153.
“At a meeting of the First Academy in April 1975, Zhang Aiping belittled the idea that the PLA might send a submarine as far as the Arabian Sea to launch a missile. Even from there, the closest Asian location, for a sub firing on Moscow, the distance to the Soviet capital would be too far for the JL-1. Zhang concluded with the judgment julang shangan [the Giant Wave (JL-1) must go ashore], and all participants accepted his ruling.” China’s Ballistic Missile Programs (with Hua Di), 27.
What to make of this? He attached great importance to a program he belittled, exhorting the First Academy to redouble efforts on the program without priority? I know that Marxists are all about the dialectic and contradictions, but this is a bit much.
