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IV. Peaceful Uses for Military
Industrial Technologies

Beginning at the end of the 1970s, China began a planned and comprehensivetransfer of defence technologies to civilian use. This transfer is partof the nation's development strategy and will not only promote nationaleconomic development but also help to consolidate China's achievementsin arms control and disarmament.

During the course of this transfer, China has effected a major readjustmentin military products research and production capacity, converting two thirdsto serving economic construction. In addition, it has reformed the managementsystem and the industrial and product structures of the defence industry,putting its accomplishments in defence technologies to civilian use.

In 1989, the central government established a "civilian applicationsof military technology liason group" comprised of the State PlanningCommission, the State Scientific and Technological Commission and the Commissionof Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence. In provincesand municipalities with concentrations of defence industries, leading groupshave been established to coordinate the transfer from military to civilianuse, strengthening organization in the organic inclusion of such transfersin national, regional and industrial development plans. Today, the governmentdepartments formerly in charge of military production have already beenchanged into general corporations within their respective trades and, inaccordance with the principles of the socialist market economy,will step by step develop into economic entities engaging in research,production and business.

During the Sixth (1981-1985) and Seventh (1986-1990) Five-Year Plansfor economic and social development, China invested approximately fourbillion yuan in projects aimed at effecting the transfer. During the EighthFive-Year Plan (1991-1995), an additional more than ten billion yuan hasbeen invested. The military industrial enterprises enjoy the same seriesof preferential policies and reform measures the central government offersfor facilitating the operation of enterprises and follow the contract responsibilitysystem. As is stipulated in their contracts, these enterprises will surrendera portion of their profits to the government in addition to taxes. Theremaining profits produced by civilian goods will be mostly used to boostproduction of such goods and improve the lives of those working for theenterprises.

Transforming China's defence industry gradually from its former incarnationas a monolithic producer of military products to today's diversified producerof products for military and civilian consumers has ensured that the needsof peacetime national defence construction are met, while at the same timeproducing high-quality industrial and consumer goods for society at large,thus playing an important role in national economic construction. As aresult of technical transformation and new construction under the directionof the national industrial policy, approximately 450 production lines arenow operating in the defence industry at a certain economic scale producingcivilian consumer goods. The output value of civilian consumer goods producedby defence industry departments has been increasing 20 percent per annumand in 1994 represented approximately 80 percent of the total output valueof such departments as opposed to 8 percent in 1979.

Today, such enterprises have the capacity to produce more than 15,000products for civilian use in over 50 categories. Products include thoseused in telecommunications, energy resources, transportation,textiles and other light industries, medicine and health, and engineeringand building industries. Outputs of some products have made a substantialcontribution to the nation's total, for example automobiles (9 percent),motorcycles (60 percent), freight trains (26 percent) and coal excavationequipment (24 percent). In addition, these enterprises have used militaryfacilities and technology to bring many products and projects from thedrawing board to production including the Yun-5, Yun-7, Yun-8 and Yun-12civil aircraft, the MD-82 and MD-90 large passenger airplanes (producedin cooperation with a foreign partner), the Galaxy-II supercomputer capableof handling 1 billion operations per second and its application software,the 300,000-KW Qinshan Nuclear Power Station, shuttle oil tankers, multi-functioncontainer ships, large air-cooled container ships and other new and hi-techproducts. Between 1984 and 1994, China launched 11 satellites for civilianapplications. Newly launched communications satellites have increased satellitetelevision coverage in China to 82 percent. The meteorological satellitesystem has brought increased accuracy to weather forecasting, substantiallyreducing economic losses due to natural calamities. Satellite remote sensingtechnology has produced great economic benefits.

China has established a centre for the application of the national defencetechnologies and a network to disseminate products and information in orderto better convert such technologies to civilian use in a planned way. Inthe last dozen or so years, more than 2,500 defence technologies have beenreleased for civilian use, greatly promoting technological progress anddevelopment in relevant fields.

The defence industry has cooperated extensively with foreign partnersin developing products for civilian use. By 1994, over 300 such joint ventureshad been established in China.

China's efforts to benefit mankind through military technology havedrawn the attention of the international community. The seminarson the transfer of military technology to civilian use jointly held byChina and the United Nations in Beijing and in Hong Kong received positiveworldwide response. The declaration on such transfers issued by the 1993Hong Kong seminar stated that world peace and sustained economic developmentare the common wish of all the world's people; disarmament and peace arecomplementary, and the transfer of military technology to civilian useis an indispensable link in the chain of promotion of disarmament, andthe resulting promotion of peace and development.

The transfer of military technology to civilian use has contributedto national economic construction in China and moreover provided variouscountries in the world with successful experience for such conversion inpeacetime.