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Beginning at the end of the 1970s, China began a planned and comprehensive
transfer of defence technologies to civilian use. This transfer
is part of the nation's development strategy and will not only promote
national economic development but also help to consolidate China's
achievements in arms control and disarmament.
During the course of this transfer, China has effected a major
readjustment in military products research and production capacity,
converting two thirds to serving economic construction. In addition,
it has reformed the management system 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 applications
of military technology liason group" comprised of the State
Planning Commission, the State Scientific and Technological Commission
and the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National
Defence. In provinces and municipalities with concentrations of
defence industries, leading groups have been established to coordinate
the transfer from military to civilian use, strengthening organization
in the organic inclusion of such transfers in national, regional
and industrial development plans. Today, the government departments
formerly in charge of military production have already been changed
into general corporations within their respective trades and, in
accordance 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
Plans for economic and social development, China invested approximately
four billion yuan in projects aimed at effecting the transfer. During
the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1991-1995), an additional more than ten
billion yuan has been invested. The military industrial enterprises
enjoy the same series of preferential policies and reform measures
the central government offers for facilitating the operation of
enterprises and follow the contract responsibility system. As is
stipulated in their contracts, these enterprises will surrender
a portion of their profits to the government in addition to taxes.
The remaining profits produced by civilian goods will be mostly
used to boost production of such goods and improve the lives of
those working for the enterprises.
Transforming China's defence industry gradually from its former
incarnation as a monolithic producer of military products to today's
diversified producer of products for military and civilian consumers
has ensured that the needs of peacetime national defence construction
are met, while at the same time producing high-quality industrial
and consumer goods for society at large, thus playing an important
role in national economic construction. As a result of technical
transformation and new construction under the direction of the national
industrial policy, approximately 450 production lines are now operating
in the defence industry at a certain economic scale producing civilian
consumer goods. The output value of civilian consumer goods produced
by defence industry departments has been increasing 20 percent per
annum and in 1994 represented approximately 80 percent of the total
output value of such departments as opposed to 8 percent in 1979.
Today, such enterprises have the capacity to produce more than
15,000 products for civilian use in over 50 categories. Products
include those used in telecommunications, energy resources, transportation,
textiles and other light industries, medicine and health, and engineering
and building industries. Outputs of some products have made a substantial
contribution to the nation's total, for example automobiles (9 percent),
motorcycles (60 percent), freight trains (26 percent) and coal excavation
equipment (24 percent). In addition, these enterprises have used
military facilities and technology to bring many products and projects
from the drawing board to production including the Yun-5, Yun-7,
Yun-8 and Yun-12 civil aircraft, the MD-82 and MD-90 large passenger
airplanes (produced in cooperation with a foreign partner), the
Galaxy-II supercomputer capable of handling 1 billion operations
per second and its application software, the 300,000-KW Qinshan
Nuclear Power Station, shuttle oil tankers, multi-function container
ships, large air-cooled container ships and other new and hi-tech
products. Between 1984 and 1994, China launched 11 satellites for
civilian applications. Newly launched communications satellites
have increased satellite television coverage in China to 82 percent.
The meteorological satellite system has brought increased accuracy
to weather forecasting, substantially reducing economic losses due
to natural calamities. Satellite remote sensing technology has produced
great economic benefits.
China has established a centre for the application of the national
defence technologies and a network to disseminate products and information
in order to better convert such technologies to civilian use in
a planned way. In the last dozen or so years, more than 2,500 defence
technologies have been released for civilian use, greatly promoting
technological progress and development in relevant fields.
The defence industry has cooperated extensively with foreign partners
in developing products for civilian use. By 1994, over 300 such
joint ventures had been established in China.
China's efforts to benefit mankind through military technology
have drawn the attention of the international community. The seminars
on the transfer of military technology to civilian use jointly held
by China and the United Nations in Beijing and in Hong Kong received
positive worldwide response. The declaration on such transfers issued
by the 1993 Hong Kong seminar stated that world peace and sustained
economic development are the common wish of all the world's people;
disarmament and peace are complementary, and the transfer of military
technology to civilian use is an indispensable link in the chain
of promotion of disarmament, and the resulting promotion of peace
and development.
The transfer of military technology to civilian use has contributed
to national economic construction in China and moreover provided
various countries in the world with successful experience for such
conversion in peacetime.
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