Documents / FOIA release

(EST Pub Date) Science and Technology in Communist CHINA Through 1970

Central Intelligence Agency · 1965-06-01 · 95 pages · text from the file's own layer

This Central Intelligence Agency release is a Scientific Intelligence Study, TCS No. 4425/65. The Scientific Intelligence Committee prepared it with other intelligence community committees and approved it on 3 June 1965. It assesses Communist China's capabilities in science and technology through 1970, with particular attention to military and industrial programs. The study concludes that China will lag far behind advanced nations. The exceptions are a few priority areas such as nuclear weapons, missiles and air defense. It contains no discussion of UFOs.

  • p. 5 …Hence, the Scientific Intelligence Committee has undertaken this study to provide the intelligence com- munity with…
  • p. 10 …China will continue to lag far behind the more advanced nations of the world in the…
  • p. 12 …from the present through 1970, China will remain far behind the world’s more advanced nations…
  • p. 13 …Much good work in analytical chemistry is conducted by the Chinese, particularly on the methods of…
  • p. 14 …The most im- portant advancement in agricultural research has been in crop breeding. New native strains…
  • p. 17 …with advances in products, equipment, and production techniques. In more complex fields—for example, the priority…
  • p. 18 …In a few fields, especially those related to the advanced weapons program, a high priority in…
  • p. 19 …China is now taking steps to establish rela- tions with advanced countries of the non-Commu…
  • p. 20 …levels in the common disciplines of science and to concentrate on advancement in the follow- ing…
  • p. 24 …Research and de- velopment have continued to expand since 1960, especially in the expensive advanced weapons…
  • p. 28 …the last 10 years. Other new leaders will come from more formal programs for advanced training…
  • p. 29 …Sophisti- cated apparatus of the kind expected to be used in the research laboratories of advanced…
  • p. 32 …techniques and methods, and deficiencies in the amounts of advanced mate- rials, equipment, and facilities. Nevertheless…
  • p. 33 …The most advanced high-speed digital com- puter in China, the 16-K, is somewhat inferior…
  • p. 41 …capabilities lower than in advanced countries. Minimum operational requirements of the armed forces, industry, and agriculture…
  • p. 42 …By 1970, China will be only slightly nearer the level of advanced countries in meteorology. 148…
  • p. 45 …the situation during the period of this estimate, but by 1973-75 they should advance the…
  • p. 46 …Considerable advances have been made by the Chinese in the field of antibiotic research, but they…
  • p. 53 …This research, how- ever, has not yet reached the advanced scientific stage of that in many…
  • p. 62 _.-¢a_.- resistant materials imposed by advanced military and civilian requirements, the Chinese increased substantially the electric…
  • p. 66 …oriented toward the development of advanced weaponry and toward the production of advanced weapons on a…
  • p. 67 …The Chinese now are de- pendent on foreign sources for some advanced equipment and for designs…
  • p. 68 …However, advanced tech- nology is not needed to get most of the jobs done. The Chinese…
  • p. 78 …of the Shanghai-class, which do not represent any radical advances in design. The Shanghai-class…
  • p. 86 …These equipments, how- ever, probably will not be as sophisticated as those of the more advanced…
  • p. 87 …coMMUmcA'r1oNs—China places heavy reli- ance on imports from the more advanced countries for its…
Approved for Release: 2018/01/30 C00659420
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x rcs 4425/as
II. Notional Objectives,
NATIONAL GOALS AND PLANS
57. The ultimate Chinese goal is to overtake and
to move ahead of the world’s scientific and tech-
nological leaders at a rapid pace. Central to all
planning and programming is the aspiration for an
ever increasing capacity for self-sufi-iciency, while
at the same time making use of all “available for-
eign technology judged useful in speeding up the
PIOCBSS.
58. In 1956, China set forth a 12-year Plan for
Scientific Development. It’s aim was to reach
world levels in the common disciplines of science
and to concentrate on advancement in the follow-
ing ll technological subjects:
i. Nuclear energy
ii. Electronics
iii. jet propulsion
iv. Automation and precision instrumentation
v. Exploration and exploitation of petroleum and
other scarce mineral resources
vi. Metallurgical process and alloys
vii. Heavy organic synthesis and use of fuels
viii. New power equipment and heavy machinery
ix. Important problems in harnessing the Yellow and
Yangtse Rivers
x. Agriculture mechanization, electrification and
chemicals'
xi. Countermeasures against major endemic diseases.
A 12th subject (not listed here) cited important
theoretical problems in natural science, presum-
ably areas of research intimately related to some
of the 11 technological subjects.
59. The Chinese, in 1956, explicitly stated that
success in carrying out the plan by 1967 would de-
pend heavily on assistance from the Soviet Union.
When the keystone of Soviet aid dropped out of
the plan during 1960, the target date of 1967 was
no longer tenable. Even before 1960, the schedule
had been upset by gross mismanagement of re-
search and training during the “great leap forward”
which started in 1958, only a few months after the
plan had finally been made firm and a yearly plan
prepared in accordance with it. Although the
“great leap forward” and the withdrawal of almost
Orgonizotion and Control
all Soviet assistance upset the schedule of the
12-Year Plan and called for some shifting of pri-
orities, the overall aims continued to be in line
with national goals.
ORGANIZATION OF RESEARCH AND
DEVELOPMENT
61. Under the supervision of the Chinese Com-
munist Party, the National government plans and
supervises scientific and technological affairs pre-
sumably through the State Scientific and Techno-
logical Commission, a senior level body in the
State Council. The actual execution of research
and development is carried out principally by the
Chinese Academy of Sciences and by the research
organs of the various technical ministries. The
ministries operate central research academies with
subordinate research institutes and have additional
research facilities attached to industrial plants.
The capabilities of ministry research facilities have
increased markedly in the last 5 years and now
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Approved for Release: 2018/01/30 C00659420
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 95 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.