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.