MAYBE CHINA CAN'T USE U.S. HIGH-TECH ITEMS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100140039-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 39
• Publication Date: August 20, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03 :CIA-RDP90-009658000100140039-7
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ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE ~~Z-
Maybe China
Can't Use U.S.
WASHINGTON POST
20 August 1983
not understood and performed.
Given the Chinese aversion to for-
eign technicians ...this factor could
be critical." '
'T'his ma
seem lik
t
h
?
y
e
oo muc
re-
H~gh-Tech Items liance on an ethnic stereotype, but
the fact remains that China is faz
President Reagan has made it behind the United States in technol-
easier for the Peoples Republic of ogy. This isreflected in the relatively
China to buy U.S. high-technology... Primitive state of its enormous mil-
items for probable military use, jus- nary machine. Atop-secret Penta-
tifying the expected sales with the gon report seen by my associate Dale
hope that the Chinese won't buy ,. Van Atta details these weaknesses
much, or won't he able to use what ? Though Ch'ma -has. the world's
they buy.. ., largest army (163 divisions), most of
This hope is echoed in a secret its equipment is 1950s vintage, con-
Pentagon estimate that disparages listing of copies or variants of Soviet
"the Chinese ability tv absorb and military hardware.
maintain U.S. equipment." ? Numerically, the Chinese navy
The .report explains why: "One of is the world's second largest. But the
the lessons we learned from Vietnam great bulk of its fleet ~is made up of
was that U.S. know-how-often in more than 1,000 small, high-speed
the form of U.S. advisers 'or techni- patrol craft. There are no aircraft
clans-must accompany U.S. tech- carriers, and no ships bigger than ~a
nology if advanced systems are to be destroyer. In fact, the Chinese have
used and maintained properly. Al- only 39 ships that fall in the "prin-
though the Chinese are technolog- cipal surface combatant" category.
ically advanced compared _ to the ? The Chinese have no anti-sub-
Vietnamese, they are well behind the marine,aircraft, only one missile-car-
state-of-the-art in most areas, and tying sub and 106 other attack subs.
their common soldier is still techno- -Few are long-range, and .none is nu=
logically unsophisticated. clear-powered. _
"Thus, the Chinese might not be ? 1'he Chinese air force is the
capable of effectively integrating our world's third lazgest, with 4,200
more advanced systems into their fighter planes and 650 bombers. But
force structure. N;ven less sophisti- again, the aircraft are technological
Gated equipment-would rapidly de- Model Ts. The planes can't fight at
teriorate if proper maintenance were .night or in foul weather, and are
generally no match for Soviet air~~
? The Chinese have about 50 me- -'
dium-range ballistic missiles, 90 in=::
termediate-range missiles and fewer
than a dozen intercontinental mis
atlas-a pathetically small force con= -
sidering the Soviet nuclear missiles
arrayed,against them. -
? Chinese bombers have dropped"
nuclear devices in tests, but the
Planes that are designated for a nu- ',
clear role have no electronic counter: _ '.
measures against air-defense weep= ? .I
ons and are therefore extremely v