Pandemic Reveals Weaknesses in Imperial Beijing’s Communist Strategy

Pandemic Reveals Weaknesses in Imperial Beijing’s Communist Strategy
Left: Deng Xiaoping, leader of the Chinese Communist Party, on Jan. 1, 1978. (Keystone/Getty Images) Right: Zhou Enlai, premier of the People's Republic of China, on Jan. 1, 1974. Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Austin Bay
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Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese Communist Party leader who created China’s economic revival, rooted his Four Modernizations in Premier Zhou Enlai’s 1975 statement that China must modernize. Deng called for comprehensive modernization in four sectors: agriculture, industry, science and technology, and defense. Deng consciously placed the People’s Liberation Army last in line, though its time would surely come.

Austin Bay
Austin Bay
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Austin Bay is a colonel (ret.) in the U.S. Army Reserve, author, syndicated columnist, and teacher of strategy and strategic theory at the University of Texas–Austin. His latest book is “Cocktails from Hell: Five Wars Shaping the 21st Century.”
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