Deng Xiaoping's Military Modernization and the National Security Interests of the People's Republic of China in the East Asian Region during the Cold War (1980-1991)

Abstract

After Mao Zedong, China arranged military modernization at the 12th National People’s Congress on 1-11 September 1982 to become Deng Xiaoping's modernization priority in response to the constellation of political and military forces of the United States of America and the Soviet Union. The research aims to analyze Deng Xiaoping’s military modernization for the interests of China's national security during the Cold War (1980-1991). The research method uses historical methods which consist of problem determination, heuristics, verification, interpretation, and historiography. The results of the research findings are that the modernization of the Chinese military carried out by Deng Xiaoping protected China's national security interests in building and developing its military capabilities in the East Asian region from 1980-1991.

Full text

HISTORIA : Jurnal Program Studi Pendidikan Sejarah Volume 12 (1), Tahun 2024
ISSN 2337-4713 (E-ISSN 2442-8728)
DOI: 10.24127/hj.v12i1.8303 187
Deng Xiaoping's Military Modernization and the National Security Interests of the
People's Republic of China in the East Asian Region during the Cold War
(1980-1991)
Zofrano Ibrahimsyah Magribi Sultani1*, Ahmad Gussef Wildani2, Faruq Setya Wargi3,
Gregorius Alberto Zinadine Zidane4, Okada Ali5, and Alfin Dwi Rahmawan6
1Department of History, Faculty of Social Sciences, State University of Malang, Indonesia
2Department of History Science, Faculty of Social, Law, and Political Sciences, Yogyakarta State
University, Indonesia
3Department of International Relations, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Brawijaya,
Indonesia
4Department of State Administration Science, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Musamus Merauke
University, Indonesia
5Department of Indonesian Language Studies, School of Language and Culture Studies, Tokyo University
of Foreign Studies, Japan
6Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Bangka Belitung University,
Indonesia
*e-mail korespondensi zofranosultani94@gmail.com
Received 9 July 2023; Received in revised form 23 August 2023; Accepted 25 August 2023
Abstrak
Pasca Mao Zedong, Cina menyusun modernisasi militer pada Kongres Rakyat Nasional ke-12
tanggal 1-11 September 1982 menjadi prioritas modernisasi Deng Xiaoping dalam menjawab
konstelasi kekuatan politik dan militer Amerika Serikat dan Uni Soviet. Tujuan dari
penelitian ini adalah menganalisis modernisasi militer oleh Deng Xiaoping bagi kepentingan
keamanan nasional Cina masa Perang Dingin (1980-1991). Metode penelitian menggunakan
metode sejarah yang terdiri dari penentuan permasalahan, heuristik, verifikasi,
interpretasi, dan historiografi. Hasil temuan penelitian yaitu modernisasi militer Cina yang
dilakukan Deng Xiaoping melindungi kepentingan keamanan nasional Cina dalam
membangun dan mengembangkan kapabilitas militernya di kawasan Asia Timur tahun 1980-
1991.
Kata kunci: Cina, Deng Xiaoping, Asia Timur, modernisasi militer, keamanan nasional.
Abstract
After Mao Zedong, China arranged military modernization at the 12th National People’s
Congress on 1-11 September 1982 to become Deng Xiaoping's modernization priority in
response to the constellation of political and military forces of the United States of
America and the Soviet Union. The research aims to analyze Deng Xiaoping’s military
modernization for the interests of China's national security during the Cold War (1980-
1991). The research method uses historical methods which consist of problem
determination, heuristics, verification, interpretation, and historiography. The results of
the research findings are that the modernization of the Chinese military carried out by
Deng Xiaoping protected China's national security interests in building and developing its
military capabilities in the East Asian region from 1980-1991.
Keywords: China, Deng Xiaoping, East Asia, military modernization, national security.
INTRODUCTION
When Deng Xiaoping in 1976-1978
consolidated cadres within the Communist
Party of China (CPC) after the Cultural
Revolution (CR) (1966-1976), then in 1978
Deng Xiaoping proposed modernization at the
3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Central
Committee of the Communist Party of China
on 18-22 December 1978 (Lieberthal, 1984;
Nainggolan, 1995; Rukmo, 1987). The plenary
session included internal party consolidation
and a modernization agenda to prepare China

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for good conditions after Mao Zedong and the
Cultural Revolution (CR) (Nainggolan, 1995;
Pantsov & Levine, 2015; Salisbury, 1992;
Zhao, 2010). His modernization agenda
received support from fellow soldiers from the
People's Liberation Army (PLA) to improve the
country's military and defense like Western
countries during the Cold War.
Deng Xiaoping's modernization
attempted to transform socialism after Mao
Zedong's leadership in China by eliminating
personal and group interests within the party.
Indirectly, his political policy is an assertion of
political power to carry out improvements in
people's lives (Fromm, 2004: 164-165). Deng
Xiaoping thought that modernization prepared
the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as a
superpower in East Asia, changing the
dogmatic focus of ideology to humane and
pragmatic development necessary to achieve
the country's progress (Bakri, 1996: 5-6).
Moreover, after the death of Mao Zedong,
China is facing complex national security
problems in the East Asian region. China's
current problem is facing the escalation of the
military hegemony of the United States of
America and the Soviet Union and their allies
during the Cold War.
Because China faced these problems,
Deng Xiaoping formulated the Chinese military
to be immediately modernized and
restructured in terms of quality and quantity
at the 12th National Congress on 1-11
September 1982 (Dillon, 2015; Shambaugh,
1993; Shambaugh, 2002a; Shambaugh,
2002b). Of course, the results of the 1982
National Congress helped strengthen China's
international political position at the East
Asian regional level from hegemony between
the superpowers and their allies which
endangered its national security in an
increasingly polarized Cold War situation. This
strategic step has the potential to put China in
a bargaining position if an armed conflict
occurs (Garcia, 2019: 51). China's bargaining
position during the Cold War lay in efforts to
develop China's foreign interests which
required national protection and security
through military modernization.
With the modernization of the Chinese
military by Deng Xiaoping, it was possible to
uphold regional sovereignty, especially China's
national security interests during the Cold War
in the East Asian region. Deng Xiaoping did
this because the United States of America had
a military base in Okinawa, Japan and was
allied with Taiwan and the Soviet Union
annexed Afghanistan in 1979 (Liping, 2009;
Liping, 2013). Other threats facing China are
seen from Taiwan's attempted declaration of
independence, perhaps with assistance from
the United States of America, and/or China's
confrontation over the Spratly Islands,
Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, South China Sea, and
East China Sea with Japan and Southeast Asia
(Yahuda, 1997: 200). The presence of the
United States of America (USA) and the Soviet
Union in the East Asia region threatened
China's national security, especially its
regional borders adjacent to Taiwan and
Xinjiang as well as water border issues.

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To overcome the constellation of
superpower hegemony in the East Asian
region, China modernized its military during
the Cold War, developing military quality and
quantity capabilities rather than having to
engage in armed contact with the USA and
the Soviet Union. This is because China's
national security interests during the Cold War
were to stem the political and military
hegemony of the United States of America
and the Soviet Union. Apart from that, making
East Asia a strategic buffer for Deng Xiaoping's
modernization in building a strong country. In
turn, the use of the military will increase the
prospect of increasing military spending in
predicting all national security threats both
domestically and regionally. Not surprisingly,
the communist rulers of the People's Republic
of China wanted to maintain the existing
regime or political system by trying to prevent
foreign powers from undermining the
legitimacy of the CPC through modernizing
the Chinese military (Scobell & Kamphausen,
2007: 24).
In theory, Giddens (2000: 47, 55) sees
modernization in the 20-21 century as blurring
left (socialism-communism) and right
(liberalism-capitalism), because developing
countries, such as China, combine left and the
right to offer a welfare state towards the
reconciliation of market and state. The
welfare state that existed in China during the
Cold War provided for the interests of the
people and played a key role in achieving
social justice and national interests in the East
Asian region, including national security
matters. However, modernization in China
must be responded appropriately to maintain
the idea of modernization in several new
contexts regardless of whether it’s a demo-
cratic country or not or a liberal-capitalist
country or a socialist-communist country
(Przeworski & Limongi, 1997: 176).
This research contributes to the study
of East Asian History, History of China, Politics
and Military of China, and East Asian Security.
The urgency of this research focuses on the
analysis that places military modernization by
Deng Xiaoping in the national security
interests of the People's Republic of China
facing the hegemony of the USA and the
Soviet Union and their allies through
developing and building military capabilities
at the regional level. So, the aims of this
research are (1) to explain the rejuvenation of
China's military weapons and defense systems
in supporting national security, and (2) to
analyze the national security interests of
China's military modernization which is taking
place put China in a position that has the
potential to threaten its defense on two
fronts, namely saifang (inland and border
defense) and haifang (coastal defense).
METHODS
The research method used is the historical
method. The steps of the historical method
are determining the problem, heuristics/
source collection, source verification/
criticism, interpretation, and historiography.
The first stage is identifying the problem. At
this stage, the researcher identifies the

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problem to be discussed, because the
researcher can focus on the main problem as
the focus of the discussion. Identifying
research questions first is very good for
connecting data with facts when writing a
report (Kuntowijoyo, 2015).
The second stage is heuristic. At this
stage the researcher collects secondary
sources in the form of books, journals,
articles, thesis, and research reports. This
article also uses electronic documents from
the Government of the People's Republic of
China and Government of the United States of
America, such as Results Report of the 12th
National People’s Congress of China
September 1-11 1982 (Beijing Review 2011),
Hanbook of the Chinese People's Liberation
Army (PLA) belonging to the Defense
Intelligence Agency (1984), and Military
Power of the People's Republic of China
published by the Office of the Secretary of
Defense US (OSD US) (2008 and 2016). From
limited and selected sources, history is
reconstructed (Zed, 2018: 57). After the
sources are collected, verification/source
criticism is carried out.
Verification consisting of internal
criticism and external criticism is carried out
to collect facts from data in the form of
references which become historical evidence
which must be analyzed and validated
according to the research problem (Daliman,
2012: 66). The data collected is limited
according to the research problem.
After criticizing/verifying the sources,
the sources are then classified in relation to
the research problem, because this
classification helps researchers in evaluating
sources (Sjamsuddin, 2012: 76). At the
interpretation stage, based on sources that
have been criticized, researchers interpret
that China's military modernization by Deng
Xiaoping during the Cold War (1980-1991)
created China's national security interests
from a conflict situation with the superpowers
and their allies in the East Asian region. Next,
there is historiography.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Rejuvenation of China's military armament
and defense systems
Professionalism, education, and personnel
budget of the People's Liberation Army
The PRC government pays attention to its
national defense through China military
modernization, believing that by transforming
the long-term power projection capabilities
and general quality of the PLA's weapons, it
will begin to truly influence the military
calculations of neighboring countries
(Waldron, 2005: 721). This assumption is
based because China has shifted to become a
welfare state that relies on strong military
capabilities and modern defense equipment
to fulfill the regional defense sector from
external and internal threats (Chieh-cheng
Huang, n.d.: 134; Gwyn, 1985: 222). To
produce strong military capabilities, soldiers
and prospective soldiers receive military and
political education at the Military School. In
this school, knowledge is given about the
types and characteristics of aircraft and tanks,

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regional and global political situations,
conflict resolution and management, and how
to fight and direct joint operations (Xiaoping,
1993a: 52-53).
Educational programs designed to
improve morale and motivate enthusiasm and
initiative in military training, for example,
were carried out extensively in the PLA's basic
level units. Li (2021: 40) revealed that to
expand military knowledge in military
education programs at basic level units, party
cadres also work with military officers to
implement rules and regulations and enforce
discipline as well as resolve combined arms
and tactical coordination problems that arise
from military training. The provision of
military education programs available through
college and professional military education is
a prerequisite for the appointment and
promotion of officers. This has helped
improve the educational and professional
qualifications of the PLA's officer corps as a
form of rejuvenation of China's military
weapons and defense systems.
In 1985, Deng Xiaoping replaced Mao's
military tactics and concepts of "luring in the
enemy" and "preparing against total war" into
respectively "extended depth of defense" and
"local war on China's periphery" under the
concept of "people's war under modern
conditions". This shows a clear connection
with Mao's revolutionary thinking regarding
defense from Deng Xiaoping's military
modernization (Chieh-cheng Huang, n.d.:
135). This means that the new military tactics
and concepts carried out the external tasks of
national defense and security carried out by
the PLA to claim the CPC's legitimacy to
govern economics development and techno-
logical development in the post-Mao and Cold
War era through military modernization.
To support the rejuvenation of China's
military weapons and defense systems
belonging to the PLA, in 1986-1989 the budget
disbursed for military purposes during the
modernization process was 20-25 billion yuan
renminbi (see figure 1) (Craine et al., 2005:
104). This has increased from government
spending on defense and national security of
11.3 billion US dollars (USD) from the 1980s to
1991. These funds came from aid from the
Soviet Union and from the revenues from the
State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (SREB)
during modernization uses foreign investment
(Li, 2009: 4).
Figure 1. Graph of China's military budget
development (1978-1990)
(Craine et al., 2005: 105).
In figure 1 you can clearly see the
fluctuation graph of the military budget,
especially when it experienced its lowest
point in 1978 and 1981 at 50 billion yuan
renminbi. This budget is slightly larger than
the 1979-1981 period which Deng Xiaoping cut
by 24.6% of the SREB (Ellman, 2014: 127),
because in the 1979-1981 period, China was
still focusing on industrial and infrastructure

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development, increasing agricultural produc-
tion and industry, and other social policies. In
that period too, China was still carrying out
the party's main tasks of "class struggle" with
economic development as well as Deng
Xiaoping's harsh evaluation of Mao's historical
role and personal cult. Only then did Deng
focus on the military aspect.
Minister of National Defense People’s
Republic of China Marshal Xu Xiangqian (1978-
1981) and Director of the General Political
Department of the People’s Liberation Army
Wei Guoqing supported weapons moderni-
zation. According to both of them, weapons
modernization has become an integral part of
modernization of national security and
defense to equip the PLA with new weapons
in a very short time (Joffe, 1981: 322).
Rejuvenation of the arsenal by supplying
modern weaponry is the main historical pillar
of the People’s Liberation Army in
strengthening and pursuing military
capabilities as was done by the Qing Dynasty
in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries in the face of Japanese imperialism
(Bitzinger & Boutin, 2009: 125). At the same
time, restructured military units were
expected, as far as possible, to increase their
own food and build and maintain their
barracks (Dreyer, 1993: 547).
Development and rejuvenation of the
People's Liberation Army armaments
Starting in the 1980s, the PLA tried to change
itself from centralized land forces to air and
sea forces with a wider radius using high
technology capable of reaching operations
beyond its borders (Craine et al., 2005: 201;
Scobell, 2003: 70). This expansion of forces
was based on the fact that large-scale land
invasions by the Soviet Union in Afghanistan,
Mongolia, and Central Asia were no longer
seen as a major threat to the future during
the Cold War. New threats to China can be
seen from efforts to declare Taiwan's indepen-
dence, perhaps with help from the United
States of America, or China's confrontation
over the Spratly Islands, Diaoyu/Senkaku
Islands, South China Sea, and East China Sea
with Japan and Southeast Asian countries
(Yahuda, 1997: 200). The existence of 2
superpowers near their territorial borders
makes the rejuvenation of the PLA’s increa-
singly important.
The rejuvenation of China's military
weapons and defense systems has several
calculations in facing the military forces of
the USA, Japan, South Korea and the Soviet
Union in East Asia. This calculation was
carried out because the PLA's defense
equipment (the main weapon and defense
system) had come from and been made in the
Soviet Union. For example, Sukhoi aircraft
(unknown type), J-6, and T-54 A tanks from
the 1950-1960s, so their weapons lag behind
other countries with sophisticated weapons
(Shambaugh, 2002a: 264; Waldron, 2005:
721). By strengthening military capabilities
through weapons updates, China can
ultimately secure the East Asian region from
reactions from the USA and the Soviet Union
and its allies if they declare war against China

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at any time (Robinson, 1982: 240;
Sukarnaprawira, 2009: 78).
Accelerating the development of
China's military capabilities, especially
weapons and defense systems, is handled by
the Science, Technology and Industry
Financing Commission for National Defense.
This commission handled the financing of the
manufacture and design of weapons and
equipment for the PLA armed forces, carried
out by a team of physicists Tsung-Dao Lee (Li
Zhengdao) (Xiaoping, 1993b: 182). The
development of military capabilities by
rejuvenating weapons is based on it’s
connection to socialist development, where
military equipment is used to assist and
participate in the smooth development.
The air force, navy, army, and the
Commission in Charge of Science, Technology,
and Industry for National Defense must divert
some of their resources to promote domestic
development (Xiaoping, 1993b: 70). For
example, the PLA Air Force provides several
airports for civilian or military use and
civilians help the country develop civil
aviation and anticipate emergency availability
of bases and airstrips. The PLA Navy can
designate some ports for military and civilian
use or for civilian use only, but rather help
increase the handling capacity of ports and
water defense systems. Also, here defense
equipment is not only a means of defense but
also for domestic purposes and requirements
which are organized into China's national
weapons and defense system.
The commission will work together
under the coordination of the Minister of
Defense with the Minister of Aviation and
Space Industry and the Minister of Electronic
and Mechanical Development to build the
defense industry making helicopters, jets,
tanks, artillery, submarines, and fighter
aircraft during 1988-1991 (Shambaugh, 2002a:
234). In 1987, China counted 8,680,000
scientific and technical personnel and 9,153
research and development institutions at all
levels of government (Xinming & Handberg,
1992: 275). The products produced comply
with and meet national standards set by the
Science, Technology and Industry Financing
Commission for National Defense.
Before 1978, S.K. Ghosh (1978)
reported that China's military modernization
was very limited. As a source of material for
military weapons alone, China's steel
production at that time was estimated to
have reached 21 million tons after the
Cultural Revolution (CR). This gives a per
capita steel consumption of 25 kg as a raw
material for weapons compared to 600 kg in
most developed countries. In the energy
sector, China's production is estimated to
require 80 million tons of oil, 108 million kW
of electrical power and 390 million tons of
coal, mostly second class quality which was
needed as weapons fuel at that time (Ghosh,
1978: 75). Considering the PRC difficulty in
producing advanced weapons in the early
period of modernization, Deng Xiaoping consi-
dered purchasing much needed items, as well

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as the technology for their manufacture from
abroad, especially from the Soviet Union.
Even though China is trying to
diversify the weapons market with joint
ventures, foreign investment and "creative
adaptation" of weapons from other countries
are the mainstay of the PLA's military
modernization. The decision to allow foreign
investment was justified within the CPC
leadership on the grounds that such
investment would bring high technology that
would allow China to become more
independent and more powerful in the
region. To cover China's lack of weapons, in
1986-1991, China employed Soviet scientists
to develop more than 500 new Sukhoi
aircraft to increase the effectiveness of the
People’s Liberation Army Air Force's combat
power (Sukarnaprawira, 2009: 133). Apart
from that, China also received donations of
new fighter aircraft and tanks from the
Soviet Union such as the J-7 Fishbed, J-11
Flanker, Q-5 Fantan, Su-27 Flanker, T-54A
Tank, and T-69 Tank (see figure 2) in
supporting its defense (Shambaugh, 2002a:
277).
Figure 2. T-69 tank made in the Soviet Union
(http://www.tanks-
encyclopedia.com/coldwar/USSR/T-
69/T69_turing_field_testing.jpg).
The arrival of weapons from the
Soviets was based on the China-Soviet Union
military cooperation relationship towards a
constructive partnership (jianshexing huoban
guanxi), and became a strategic coordinative
partnership (zhanlue xiezuo huoban guanxi)
(Li, 2009: 158). Apart from donations and
joint ventures, the government can contract
to purchase 100 S-300 artillery pieces, 72 Su-
27K supersonic fighters, and the Sovremenny
destroyer (see figure 3) with SSN-22 Sunburn
guided missile weapons (Sukarnaprawira,
2009: 161). This was done to cover China's
weapons which were outdated and outdated
since the 1950-1960s.
Figure 3. Soviet-built Sovremenny destroyer
with SSN-22 Sunburn guided missile
armament
(http://weaponsystems.net/image/s-
lightbox/n-Sovremenny%20class/--
/img/ws/sh_des_sovremenny_o1.jpg).
China's shipping and aircraft industries
were still largely engaged in “creative
adaptation” of foreign products rather than
true original innovation, as evidenced through
the need to acquire the Liaoning aircraft
carrier framework and Su-33 fighter aircraft
from the Soviet Union (Rinehart & Gitter,
2015: 23). The PLA believed that each form of
weaponry could be improved and applied to
modern high-tech warfare (Sukma, 1995: 83).
However, because the prioritization of
technology in the defense sector was so great.
New military equipment continued to be
improved and Soviet-made equipment

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remained in use for a certain period of time
for strategic reasons (Bitzinger & Boutin,
2009: 126; Rinehart & Gitter, 2015: 4). The
Chinese have undoubtedly produced several
weapons systems before modernization, such
as the F-9 fighter based on Soviet antiaircraft
missiles and the MiG-19.
Soviet-designed T-59 and T-60
(amphibious tanks), indigenously designed T-
62 light tanks and armored personnel carriers,
diesel-electric submarines, missile destroyers
and fast patrol boats, nuclear-powered
submarines (only one Han class nuclear
submarine of this type is reportedly
undergoing tests), and a variety of light
weapons (Ghosh, 1978: 69). In the 1980s the
Chinese military was able to develop the J-8 II
M Finback-B fighter aircraft from the initial
version of the J-8 with a turbo jet engine and
Soviet-made radar. Apart from this type of
aircraft, the Phazotron Zhuk-8 II turbo engine
component is located on the left of the
aircraft body with the radar located on the
nose of the aircraft which is similar to that of
the Soviet fighter aircraft, Sukhoi-27 (Su-27).
The J-8 II M aircraft was born as a
fighter aircraft with BVR combat capability
and was equipped with Soviet-made R-27 and
R-77 anti-aircraft missiles (Susilo, 2008: 44). In
addition, China developed tanks, antitank
guns, warships and fighter aircraft as a result
of "creatively modifying" the Soviet Union's
arsenal. Weapons resulting from "creative
modifications" such as the T-59 tank
(modification of the T-54A tank), T-60 122
mm antitank cannon (D-74 modification), Tu-4
fighter aircraft (modification of the Sukhoi),
Luda class destroyer battleship (modification
of the Sovremenny battleship) (see figure 4)
(Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), 1984).
T-59 tank
T-60 antitank cannon
Tu-4 fighter aircraft
Luda class destroyer battleship
Figure 4. Chinese-made weapons that
“creatively modify” Soviet Union weapons
(Defense Intelligence Agency, 1984: A-21, A-
25, A-37, A-39).
There were also weapons supplied by
the Soviet Union to China but the names were
changed, such as the BTR-50 amphibious
(changed by China to M-1974) (see figure 5)
(Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), 1984). In
procuring warships in the 1980s, the People's
Republic of China abandoned dependence on
the Soviet Union in model design and looked
to Western technology in building homemade
battleships (Sukarnaprawira, 2009: 126). The
Chinese are overhauling and retooling their
forces to enable them to confirm each enemy

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in technological terms that are more equi-
valent to what they “creatively modify” other
countries' arsenals.
Figure 5. Soviet-supplied BTR-50 amphibian
renamed by China as M-1974 amphibian
(Defense Intelligence Agency, 1984: A-22).
In addition to producing equipment of
the Soviet Union and other foreign designs,
the Chinese have developed and produced
various types of domestically designed
equipment. The main weapons of Chinese
design, for example, include a Type 62 and
Type 63 armored personnel carrier, the A-
5/Fantan fighter-bomber aircraft (see figure
6), various antitank and guided missiles,
nuclear submarines as well as ICBM
(intercontinental ballistic missiles) (Defense
Intelligence Agency (DIA), 1984: 11;
Shambaugh, 2002a: 234).
Figure 6. A-5/Fantan fighter-bomber aircraft
(Defense Intelligence Agency, 1984: 65).
In 1991 Beijing ordered 24 Sukhoi type
27 SK/UBK (in China with the name J-11/JJ-
11) from the Soviet Union to secure the
waters of the East and South China Seas as
well as China's air zone. This Sukhoi order is
the backbone of the PLA Air Force's air
defense in strengthening the air force's
defense equipment. China then developed a
fighter jet with the code J-10 which was the
result of 20 years of R&D to create its own
aircraft which has produced fighter aircraft
copied from the MiG-15 to the Tu-16 bomber.
Around 60 J-10 fighter aircraft are operated in
the Taiwan Strait area and around the South
China Sea (SCS) to deal with Taiwan which
relies on F-16s and Mirage-2000s made in the
USA (Susilo, 2008: 44-45).
Overcoming Taiwan which received
the transfer of F-16 and Mirage-2000 weapons
from the USA, China launched a medium-
range ballistic missile submarine using a Xia
class SSBN ship after the results of 9 years of
R&D starting in 1981 (Defense Intelligence
Agency (DIA), 1984: 69; Shambaugh, 2002a:
271). Thus, China played little or no part in
the negotiations leading to Soviet agreement
to the Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) treaty
in December 1987 to eliminate all SS-20
missiles, including those in Asia. China’s
inventory contains more than 2,000 ballistic
and cruise missiles would violate the INF
treaty if China were a signatory (Stokes, 2019:
3).
Likewise, China wasn’t a party to the
1988 international agreement in which the
Soviet Union promised to withdraw all its
armed forces from Afghanistan (Yahuda, 1997:
94). However, China is the main beneficiary of
both to maintain the stability of the East Asian
region. China has based its modernization
process primarily on its domestic resources
relying on ideological and institutional

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innovation and industrial restructuring. By
exploring emerging domestic markets, the
People's Republic of China (PRC) has infused
its economy headfirst with a new momentum
that calls for a shift of technological and
industrial resources from the social-economic
sectors of society to the defense and national
security sectors.
The aim of shifting the social-
economic sector of society to the national
defense and security sector during Deng
Xiaoping's modernization was to facilitate
national economic development with national
defense improved and technological progress
increasing. Xinming and Handberg (1992: 279)
argues the Chinese government's recent plan
for a scheme to rejuvenate China's military
weapons and defense systems aims to place a
heavy emphasis on projects in the field of
high technology. Projects in high-tech fields
such as genetic engineering, space technology
and military weapons, lasers, information
technology, automation technology, energy
and advanced materials.
Indirectly, Deng Xiaoping's military
modernization of China was an attempt by the
moderate-revisionist group in the Communist
Party of China (CPC) to balance the power of
the USA to the west and the Soviet Union to
the east by copying the Soviet Union's military
model. Deng Xiaoping (1993b: 135) talks about
military modernization in planning the
productive development of the PLA's arsenal
copying the Soviet military model on 6
February 1987.
“We must uphold the principle of building
an army with diligence and frugality,
make best use of existing financial and
material resources, do everything possible
to reduce military expenditure and
strengthen the country's economic
construction. At the time we copied the
Soviet military model...”.
The main objective of the military moderni-
zation of the PRC is to ensure the develop-
ment of a strategic and stable environment at
home and abroad to guarantee sustainable
modernization through the utilization of
existing financial and material resources.
China's national security interests in the
East Asia region
Development and creation of China's
defense zoning in the East Asia region
Global political changes during the Cold War,
especially in the East Asian region, have
placed China in a risky strategic position/
dealing with superpowers and their allies,
potentially threatening defense on two fronts,
namely saifang (inland and border defense)
and haifang (coastal defense) (Waldron, 2005:
722). The military strength of the super-
powers and their allies endangers China's
national security in the East Asian region
which directly borders its territory. To the
north-west, precisely in Xinjiang-Heilongjiang-
Inner Mongolia, there is a Soviet Union
military base in the saifang region. To the
east, namely the waters of the East China Sea
(ECS), Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, and the South
China Sea (SCS), there are US military bases
with its allies Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea
as the haifang region.
The presence of the USA and the
Soviet Union in the East Asian region caused
the saifang and haifang regions bordering

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China territory to be included in the
development and creation of China's military
defense zoning at the regional level. This is
because these areas are geostrategic for the
PRC's national security. The PLA developed its
armed forces through arms control, claiming
it as the country's sovereign territory in East
Asian waters (see figure 7). This growing
prominence is a direct result of the PLA's
growing securitization of some of its core
interests in the region, starting with Taiwan,
and then expanding to the East China Sea
(ECS) and South China Sea (SCS) disputes as
well as Pacific waters.
Figure 7. Development of China's military
defense zoning in the East Asia region
(https://cofda.files.wordpress.com/2013/12
/1st-and-2nd-island-chains.jpg.).
In figure 7, China includes the
Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, East China Sea, South
China Sea and Yellow Sea as ring 1 (first
circle) of the country's military defense areas.
This region has a main strategic security
function and interest, namely being a leading
military base as a deterrent to attacks
extending from areas bordering superpowers
and their allies to regional waters. The
widening of the defense area from around the
East Asia region then expanded to the
Philippine Sea, Mariana Islands, Guam, and
Palau as ring 2 (circle 2) because in this region
there are US military bases in the Northern
Mariana Islands, the Philippines, and Guam.
The development of China's military
defense zoning originated from the plan of
Deputy Chairman of the Central Military
Commission (CMC) Liu Huaqing in 1982, which
formulated how maritime in the East Asian
region would become a component of China's
security and defense strategy and interests as
long as the superpower constellation was still
ongoing (Cordesman, Hess, & Yarosh, 2013:
66). China has a coastal border of 18,000 km
and requires the East Asia region as an effort
to guarantee the national integrity of the
region, including restoring territory lost during
the Ming Dynasty in areas that constitute ring
1 (Gaoyue, 2009: 121). The areas included in
the development of China's military defense
zoning, especially in the ring 1 area, were the
defense base in Deng Xiaoping's efforts to
restore the glory of the Ming Dynasty as the
legal status quo for those who had sailed
through the region (Liping, 2009: 116).
Thus, the East Asian region has
become a strategic area for China's national
security in developing its military power by
creating good and stable neighborly relations
without disturbing or weakening neighboring
countries by taking up arms (McDougall, 2007:
74). That is why the military zoning proposed
in 1982 had an influence on China's military
modernization in the East Asia region during
the Cold War, especially disputes over the
East China Sea and the Diaoyu/Senkaku
Islands. By including China's military strategic
area as a strategic area against Japan's claim

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to the area, China seems to be indirectly from
the perspective of other countries regarding
China's military modernization as a threat to
the country concerned with the area that
crosses China's military defense zone in East
Asia.
Thus, China's military modernization
has dealt with territorial disputes with the
countries concerned, especially Japan
regarding the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands and the
East China Sea in connection with its security
development in the East Asian region (Majie,
2013: 66). According to Rinehart and Gitter
(2015: 8), Chinese leaders see national
security interests as part of regional security
based on their understanding of overall global
trends combined with the domestic situation
through military modernization. What this
means is that military modernization is based
on regional security which is part of China's
national security which is a common thing for
a country in reducing the struggle and
constellation of hegemony between the two
superpowers and their allies which affects
China's domestic situation from the dangers of
democratization, nationalism, and separa-
tism.
This is because China's national
security in East Asia, flanked by the United
States of America and the Soviet Union and
their allies, endangers the security of
countries directly adjacent to its territory,
such as Xinjiang and Heilongjiang-Inner
Mongolia-Liaoning. This is not simply excessive
fear or worry from Chinese leaders, because
China under Deng Xiaoping's rule implemented
zhoubian zhengce (peripheral policy) and
mulin zhengce (good neighbor policy) as
jieshou yueshu (accepting constraints) seeing
the East Asian as a political strengthening
area the state stemmed the escalation of the
superpowers. The potential of the East Asian
region during the Cold War for China was the
concentric political circle of China military
operations which depended on increasing
domestic military strength and capabilities
(Gaoyue, 2009: 121).
The East Asian region was made into a
concentric political circle by China in
developing military superiority in facing the
military confrontation of the superpowers and
their allies during the Cold War. That is why
East Asia has become a sociocultural-historical
concept for China which views its nation as
more or less as large as the world based on a
sense of nationalism to build it’s defense
(Machetzki, 1983: 1090). Why is East Asia
becoming a geopolitics that could lead to
military confrontation? because apart from
the military bases of the two superpowers,
the United States of America and the Soviet
Union, there are also other resources (oil and
gas and fisheries) off the coast which are
under China's political-military control.
Military defense zoning is a system
that relies on building fast-moving capabilities
to face regional wars and is limited to low-
intensity conflicts around China and the East
Asian region which cannot be avoided (Susilo,
2008: 51). The development of the PRC's
military defense zoning in the East Asia region
brings an entry point in mapping military

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defense for the PLA's armed forces as a state
military region. Deng Xiaoping changed party-
military relations, which Mao Zedong had pre-
viously used for the benefit of conservative-
dogmatic political circles, towards state-
military relations. This new relationship
pattern explains that the PLA is moving from
its traditional communist institutional ethos as
a pioneer in the establishment of a communist
government in China to a new stage of limited
autonomy from the ruling party with a
complementary system of state political
autonomy.
Shambaugh (2002b: 19) and Dreyer
(1993) explain state political autonomy that
the military's relationship with the state and
party can be seen as complementary, not
limited authonomy. This means that the state
increases its control mechanisms and lines of
authority over the armed forces and weapons
as the guard of national defense and security,
while the party withdraws to a higher position
as superstructure and controls the strength of
the military (PLA). What China is doing is not
like what happened in Thailand, Latin
America, Central America, and Africa, where
in the 1950s to 1990s the military was very
dominant in the politics of these countries.
The strength of political institutions is
the key to facing a political system that is
more successful in developing strong state
institutions after Mao Zedong. That way, the
country can better handle the increasing
pressure generated by political participation
and will become more stable, accelerating
national development using modernization
(Hout, 2016: 26). Deng Xiaoping's moderni-
zation of China has legitimized the Communist
Party' of China political order in economic
development matters that secure its national
security. Deng Xiaoping's modernization
politics brought about social and political
changes in post-Mao China regarding China's
military strategic framework which prioritized
the development of the military strength of
the armed forces in creating regional stability.
Defense mapping of China military regional
commands in the East Asia region
After the development of military defense
zoning which included East Asia as the
defense area of the People's Republic of
China, the area that became China's defense
area was then created to map the defense of
China's regional military command for the
PLA's armed forces. China has unilaterally
committed to responsibilities that other
nuclear-weapon states haven’t yet taken on,
including the declaration of a discretionary
use policy. A commitment not to use nuclear
weapons against non-nuclear states and in a
nuclear-weapon-free zone. China has no
military presence outside it’s own territory
(Dongxiao, 2013: 172-173).
The meaning of China not having a
military presence outside it’s own territory is
that its armed forces, the People's Liberation
Army (PLA), maintain the status quo as long as
other countries don’t declare war or attack
their territory first. This greatly benefited its
modernization during the Cold War. If the
People's Republic of China doesn’t want to be
left out of regional political developments,

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there is no other choice for China except to
adapt to the pressures originating from its
environment (Sukma, 1991: 257).
China must adapt to the conditions of
the East Asian regional environment, where
other East Asian countries such as Japan and
South Korea are increasing their military
strength with the USA. Addition, the Soviet
Union threatened China's western and
northern regions. China's way of adapting to
this environment is none other than the policy
of developing deterrent power through zoning
and mapping China's military defenses in East
Asia.
Even more importantly, defense
protection for national security provides the
advantage of minimizing the occurrence of
armed wars in the region and in the East Asian
region. China has one main characteristic,
namely avoiding military force expeditions in
the region like those carried out by the USA
and the Soviet Union towards developing
military power at the regional level (Sultani,
2018: 251). Thus, during the Cold War, China
emphasized defensive strength and building
weapons on a large scale wasn’t a violation
rather than carrying out war like during Mao
era.
China's strategic evaluation of the
Soviet Union's global attitudes was further
revealed in China's pattern of domestic
deployment of military power. Of the 1,191
regular divisions and 70 local divisions, only 55
regular divisions and 25 local divisions were
deployed in the military areas of Northeast.
220 regular divisions and 8 local divisions were
deployed in the military areas of Northwest
and South China. This meant that no more
than a third of the PLA troops were deployed
against the Soviet Union (Machetzki, 1983:
1091). Therefore, in facing threats in all
directions by the Soviet Union and the United
States of America, the People's Republic of
China (PRC) created a mapping of its military
defense which was divided into military
regional command areas.
Military regional command areas are
divided into seven parts covering the
provinces in People’s Republic of China.
China's seven military regional command areas
include the Beijing, Shenyang, Jinan,
Lanzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, and Guangzhou
military commands (see figure 8). This
mapping was created in 1985 by General
Zhang Aiping (1983-1988) to facilitate the
organization of inter-divisional command
coordination in the People’s Liberation Army
(PLA) after restructuring in dealing with
internal security issues, defense and national
security, and defense mobilization for PLA
troops (Office of the Secretary of Defense US,
2016: 1; Scobell et al., 2016: 125).
Figure 8. Seven military regional commands
of the People's Republic of China as mapping
China's military defense (1985-2015)
(Office of the Secretary of Defense US, 2016:
2).

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The Beijing Military Regional
Command area includes Inner Mongolia,
Beijing Capital, Tianjin City, Shanxi, and
Hebei with a central base in Beijing. The
Jinan and Chengdu Military Regional
Command regions do not have a central base
because this region only covers 5 provinces,
namely Tibet, Guizhou, Chongqing, Sichuan,
and Yunnan for the Chengdu Military Regional
Command, while 2 provinces, Henan and
Shandong for the Jinan Military Regional
Command. The provinces of Heilongjiang,
Liaoning, and Jilin are included in the
Shenyang Military Regional Command with a
central base in Dalian.
The central base referred to is the
central military base of each regional military
command which is supported by infrastructure
and facilities that can be used for PLA
purposes at any time. Meanwhile, the Nanjing
Regional Military Command is strategically
close to East Asian waters such as the East
China Sea and the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands
with its central base in Shanghai City. The
Nanjing Military Regional Command covers the
defense areas for Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu,
Fujian, Zhejiang Provinces and Shanghai City.
Each Regional Military Command
(RMC) has several categories of reserve forces
established in 1983. RMC consisting of
divisions (shi), brigades (lü), and regiments
(tuan) led by the Military Headquarters in
charge of the political department, logistics
department, equipment, and provincial
military district commanders (Scobell et al.,
2016: 124, 128). The purpose of dividing the
categories of reserve forces from the RMC is
to secure all defense information and
potential resources in the RMC area which is a
means of emergency defense for the PLA.
However, the PLA has a responsibility
to the state to maintain defense in addition to
obtaining information regarding the minimum
limits of military security that must be
possessed amidst the capabilities of other
countries (Huntington, 2003: 78). This capa-
bility shows the government's interest in
protecting mainland China (Gaoyue, 2009:
123). China's elite leadership in the CPC
appears to have adopted a coherent set of
enduring strategic priorities, including the
continued preservation of CPC rule, growth
and development, maintaining political
stability, defending the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of the Chinese state, and
securing China's status as a great power
(Office of the Secretary of Defense US, 2008:
9). Modernization is needed by China not only
for national security and defense reasons, but
because being the most technologically
advanced sector, the military part of the
economy can be more efficiently integrated
into national economic development.
China's interactions with the outside
world are modifying the East Asian region to
become increasingly complex, because China
has moved towards calculations of national
interests that result in increasingly aggressive
behavior. Beijing is seeking to present itself as
an actively involved participant in the region.
It emphasizes the responsibility of a great
power in establishing a stable international

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order, and supports a relationship with
external parties based on mutual interests,
cooperation, and a long-term commitment to
regional stability (Scobell & Kamphausen,
2007: 90). In other words, if China does not
conform to the acceptable norms of the
international system, investment will flow to
countries that follow global political changes.
It eased the anxieties of other
countries at the time of China's rise by telling
the world that China's modernization goal was
to "build an eternally rich society" internally
and to "maintain world peace and promote
common development" externally (Sukma,
1995: 48). Maintaining world peace and
promoting joint development externally
through modernization was Deng Xiaoping's
interpretation of homeland reunification and
regional stability in East Asia during the Cold
War.
Homeland reunification and stability of the
East Asian region
The use of military force gives China further
support for preventive war and utility in
examining issues where certain conflicts of
interest exist, such as territorial disputes
(Sukma, 1995: 89). As long as China still
prioritizes domestic development while also
building its military, China has great political
power during the Cold War over China's
interests in the East Asian region, especially
the creation of a stable regional environment.
Behind a stable regional environment, there is
anger from the USA, Japan, and South Korea
over control of maritime in East Asia. It is still
much more difficult for China to fight and
deploy military power outside the East Asian
region.
China defended against threats from
the expansion and agitation of the hegemony
of the USA and the Soviet Union during the
Cold War that endangered national security
near its territorial borders. Facing these
threats and agitation for hegemony, the CPC
during Hu Yaobang's era responded by
formulating regional policies known as
zhoubian zhengce (peripheral policy) and
mulin zhengce (good neighbor policy) (Zhao,
2009: 5-6). Zhoubian zhengce (periphery
policy) is a policy of peripheral and even
development across all regions in China as an
external peripheral/buffer state area facing
the Soviet Union and the USA and their allies.
Meanwhile mulin zhengce (good
neighbor policy) was the government's
political policy in establishing relations with
the USA, Japan, South Korea, and the Soviet
Union in the face of superpower hegemony
and it’s development interests in East Asia.
Therefore, there are extraordinary charac-
teristics in the influence of Deng Xiaoping's
military modernization from the zhoubian
zhengce (coastal development) policy which
made the East Asian region a haifang in his
country's security and defense system during
the Cold War. Deng Xiaoping sought to avoid
external conflict that could jeopardize China's
priority of economics development in East
Asia through modernization.
This is to reduce the natural
resistance that a country as big as China will

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face in reaching the international political
stage after Mao Zedong faced the Soviet
Union and the USA. China's modernization was
designed as a long-term strategy with the
result that China regained its lost centrality,
which would require a modern and powerful
armed force at that time. But China's
achievements during the Cold War era could
not have achieved this goal without it’s
previous strong scientific economic and
technological foundation from 1976-1984
(Shambaugh, 2002b; Zhao, 2010).
China's achievements during 1980-
1991 were historically motivated by China
facing a short border war in 1969 with the
Soviet Union. Therefore, defense mapping
and zoning was necessary, aimed at the
northern and western border when in 1979,
the Soviet Union annexed Afghanistan.
Vulnerable to the stability of China's national
security interests are the breakaway western
regions of Tibet and Xinjiang. However, if
China wants to become a dominant regional
power, sooner or later it’s strategic national
security advantage will be adjacent seas and
free access to the Indian and Pacific Oceans
(Santayana, 2021: 5). Because access to the
Indian and Pacific Oceans is an international
trade route through Southeast Asia and East
Asia and there are US military bases in Guam,
the Philippines, and the Northern Mariana
Islands.
What Deng Xiaoping did using
modernization, theoretically, Narayanan
(2006: 334) explained that China's domestic
political changes after Mao Zedong required
socialism to be interpreted broadly and a
more discursive framework to initiate and
justify capitalist experiments following the
times. This response led to the victory of the
moderate-revisionist group which became
increasingly strong in providing social
guarantees and development through moder-
nization as a view of realistically facing
changes in surrounding conditions (Suseno,
2003: 229). Elites in the party responded to
changes and developments in the circum-
stances surrounding China by considering
military modernization as important for the
country's political and economic stability.
The response of the party elite gave
China a political situation that determined the
direction of development related to regional
security from the hegemony of the USA and
the Soviet Union in the East Asian region
(Sukma, 1991: 253). This is once again at the
heart of the CPC's legitimacy and the catalyst
for China's securitization of its national
security in East Asia (Garcia, 2019: 53). The
heart of the CPC's legitimacy prioritizes
China's securitization of its national security in
East Asia by including haifang and saifang into
China's national security area at the regional
level as reunifying the motherland. This
analysis is strengthened by evidence of Deng
Xiaoping's statement at the 1982 National
People’s Congress.
“…including Chinese nationals residing
abroad, we shall pursue the great aim of
reunifying the motherland. We shall also
join the people of the rest of the world in
carrying on the struggle against
imperialism and hegemonism in defence
of world peace. These are the lofty tasks
of creating a new stiuation in all fields
that lie before us” (Beijing Review, 2011).

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However, Liping (2009: 104) provides
a different analysis that the influence of
modernization brings peace which shows that
China is uniting the point of view of whether
it is beneficial for international and regional
peace and stability, not the point of view of
gaining military superiority in East Asia. On
the other hand, China obtained sovereign
independence from zhoubian zhengce in
accordance with it’s national security
interests, namely maintaining world peace
and promoting development in it’s national
security policy, apart from efforts to reunify
the homeland (Liping, 2009: 105). This is to
deny enemy control/maintain efforts to deny
enemy control around the waters and land of
East Asia, especially from the United States of
America (USA) and the Soviet Union.
However, China understands that its
approach will not be effective without the
support of hard military force. Cimbala (2015:
12) argues that China may prefer to see
weapons development as an option to prevent
or fight in urgent conditions with superpowers
and their allies. Since then, China has
recognized the importance of developing and
deploying capabilities for regional-level
military contingencies in creating stability and
increasing its military power (Bommakanti &
Shivamurthy, 2021: 4). Indeed, China's
military capabilities were greatly enhanced
during the Cold War primarily because their
military was directed at managing potential
conflicts around China's periphery such as
across the straits with Taiwan and Xinjiang
with Afghanistan and Central Asia.
The role of the army as a mechanism
for internal political control of the state and
the Communist Party of China (CPC) can not
be denied or ignored for this reason, that the
existence of domestic political violence is
likely to give rise to a response by the military
which is the goal of justifying state defense
and security such as the Cultural Revolution
(CR) (Huntington, 2003: 70). In turn, military
use during the Cold War would raise the
prospect of increased military spending in
response to any national security threats. It is
not surprising that China's communist rulers
want to maintain the existing regime or
political system by trying to prevent foreign
powers from undermining the legitimacy of
the CPC (Scobell & Kamphausen, 2007: 24).
Considerations of historical, geogra-
phical, ideological, and international political
developments had to be included in Deng
Xiaoping's military modernization calculations.
The gravity of relations between countries
based on the political dynamics of the Cold
War period doesn’t completely erase the
relevance of the geostrategic political context
of China's national security. For China,
protecting national security is a major effort
to protect and defend territorial sovereignty
as a homeland and the resources within it
(Dillon, 2015; Dreyer, 2014; Li, 2009; Li, 2021;
Pantsov & Levine, 2015; Salisbury, 1992;
Vogel, 2011; Zhao, 2009). Shipping lane
security, sovereignty over exclusive economic
areas, and sovereignty over maritime
resources in East Asia are as important as
resources on mainland China as a means of

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supporting assertive diplomacy and
conventional operations when necessary by
China in the face of American agitation. The
USA and the Soviet Union near their borders.
Majie (2013: 66) stated that this
threat is very reasonable in relation to China's
national security strategy in the East Asia
region, which mainly focuses on the following
objectives: (1) to maintain national unity and
territorial integrity, (2) to maintain a stable
and peaceful international environment on its
periphery, and (3) to establish good relations
with neighboring countries. China has done its
best to ensure national security and maintain
regional stability through promoting develop-
ment as a security mechanism for the Asia-
Pacific in the process of implementing its
modernization. China's national security
mechanism which covers East Asia to the
Pacific within its military defense zone seeks
to deter and repel superpower aggression into
the East Asian region.
In addition, China's national security
built by Deng Xiaoping through military
modernization opposed and restrained
Taiwan's independence in order to obtain
military assistance from the United States of
America (Li, 2009). Thus, maintaining national
sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, and
national security has given China the skills to
manage violence. This of course imposes on
the military the primary responsibility for
ensuring military and external security of
society. However, apart from economic
considerations of modernization, increasing
military strength always invites suspicion from
other parties, especially if it’s done by giving
greater priority to the modernization of
offensive weapons (Anggoro, 2003: 8). During
the Cold War, China military modernization
became the China military strategic guideline
making preparations to fight and win the
country through upholding the sovereignty of
it’s national security area with the
development of weapons and military defense
systems.
These requirements imply that a
major war involving an invasion of People’s
Republic of China by a major foreign power
during the Cold War is highly unlikely due to
the enhanced deterrence and balance of
power capabilities of military modernization
to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Likewise, China's military strategy emphasizes
the continuous improvement of its military
capabilities to effectively posture, manage
and control crises, and prevent war (有效塑造
态势, 管控危机, 遏制战争/yǒuxiào sùzào
tàishì, guǎnkòng wéijī, èzhì zhànzhēng) (Li,
2021: 242). China's national security interests
through modernization Deng Xiaoping sought
to shape it’s external security environment to
support China in upholding territorial
sovereignty and homeland reunification
through active defense.
CONCLUSION
China's military modernization by Deng
Xiaoping during the Cold War had implications
for China's efforts to guarantee it’s national
security in East Asia by managing all forms of
threats to the hegemony of the United States

HISTORIA : Jurnal Program Studi Pendidikan Sejarah Volume 12 (1), Tahun 2024
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DOI: 10.24127/hj.v12i1.8303 207
of America (USA) and the Soviet Union and
their allies. The aim is to create regional
stability and maintain regional sovereignty as
a homeland.
In addition, China's national security
mechanism, which was built through military
modernization, faced regional international
political developments during the Cold War
from the constellation and escalation of the
United States of America and the Soviet Union
using the redefinition of the Marxism-
Leninism-Maoism ideology. Deng Xiaoping
carried out the redefinition/reinterpretation
of the ideology of communism following
developments in international politics in the
East Asian region. The Soviet Union annexes
Afghanistan. The USA is still in contact with
Taiwan, and South Korea and Japan receive
financial assistance from the USA for their
military.
This requires the PLA to adapt to
situations that at any time threaten China's
national security. China maps the region and
surrounding waters into the PLA's defense and
security zones and military regional
commands. China's strategic consideration of
modernizing its military by Deng Xiaoping can
create conducive regional security and
profitable cooperation to expand domestic
product markets that pay attention to each
other's national interests. Without waging war
with Japan, the USA, and South Korea, the
government can use its productive power
from development to build advanced
weapons, technology, production of quality
goods, skilled labor, which will become
important exports for the PRC in the future.
The resolution of the problems is based on
mutual strategic interests not to exploit
unilaterally. So the creation of regional
stability does not interfere with the
sustainability of modernization in the future
which accelerates military and social
development.
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