The
Swords of China Into Plowshares
Part 1
Prof. Shimon Silman, RYAL Institute and Touro College
When
discussing Swords Into Plowshares in China, as well as all matters pertaining to
China, the issues are unique and complex. China has always isolated itself and
done things its own way. It’s hard to say "isolated" when there’s
about a billion people there, but on the other hand, their large population has
enabled them to develop in their own way with minimum international interaction.
This applies also to their nuclear weapons development which, after a short
period of collaboration with Russia, they did mostly in isolation.
Thus
the analysis of China vis-à-vis the Swords Into Plowshares conversion – which
is called "the trend of History" by one group of Chinese physicists
– is itself complex and requires careful consideration of exactly what Swords
Into Plowshares means.
Not
every non-military or even food-related use of military equipment is necessarily
"Swords Into Plowshares." Consider, for example, a soldier on the
battlefield in the middle of a cruel war. The soldier gets hungry and takes out
an apple from his food bag. Suddenly he realizes that he can use his sword not
just to kill the enemy but also to cut his apple. Do we point to this and say,
"Aha! Swords Into Plowshares"!? In every country there were always
"spin-offs" or civilian uses of military technology but this was not
Swords Into Plowshares.
So
lets go back to the original sicha of exactly nine years ago this week,
the sicha of Shabbos Parshas Mishpatim, 5752, in which the Rebbe Melech
HaMoshiach explains in detail how the fulfillment of this Messianic prophecy of
Yishayahu (Isaiah) has now begun to be fulfilled. Referring to the meeting of
the heads of state of the major countries of the world at the United Nations at
the end of January, 1992, Melech HaMoshiach writes, "Since these days heads
of state of the world’s countries are making decisions and announcements
regarding the reduction and dismantling of weapons and the increase in matters
required for the maintenance of the economies of the individual countries and
the world as a whole – which is the content of the prophecy ‘They shall
beat their swords into plowshares,’ dismantling the instruments of war to
produce from them instruments for working the ground, ‘earth from whence comes
forth bread’ (Job 28, 5) – this is a clear sign of the beginning of the
fulfillment of this prophecy in the true and complete Redemption of Moshiach
Tzidkeinu" (italics in original sicha).
We
see from this quote (and others later in the sicha) that the content or
the meaning of this prophecy is an overall shift in resources from military to
economic uses. This comes as a result of reduced threat perception on the part
of the countries involved, as we see from the Radak quoted earlier in the sicha:
"There will be no war between one nation and another because [Moshiach]
will bring peace among them. Thus they will not need instruments of war
and they will beat them to make from them instruments for working the
ground" (italics not in original). We might say that the highest form of
Swords Into Plowshares occurs when the peaceful conditions will bring about a
change of attitude on the part of the countries of the world. They will not feel
threatened by each other. They will feel secure so they will not need
instruments of war. It is within this framework that all Swords Into
Plowshares developments should be analyzed. We will review the development of
nuclear weapons technology in China and its conversion to peaceful uses, but
first let’s see what the Chinese themselves have to say on the matter.
WHAT
THE CHINESE SAY
In
the introduction to their paper entitled "The Practice and Progress of
Defense Conversion in China," three professors from the China Academy of
Engineering Physics write:
The
peaceful use of military technology represents the trend of history. The
fundamental element of the conversion of military technologies to civilian ones
for each country is to reconfigure the factors of production in peacetime, which
consists of land and natural resources, capital and labor, science, technology
and information, etc. The purpose of conversion is to make an efficient
contribution of post-war economic recovery and construction which is determined
by national defense, economy, strategy of science and technology development,
industry policy and labor distribution. Defense conversion is a fundamental
issue that is related to world peace, disarmament, international security, and
economy development. The influence of the conversion has been more significant
after the cold war; and a lot of countries have paid attention to it. Many
scientists and outstanding people have been working hard on promoting the
defense conversion.
The
most important aspect of peaceful use of defense science and technology is its
development and applications. It is a common demand of people of the world and
the wishes of most scientists and engineers to convert the advanced military
technologies to productive forces, to promote national economy development and
bring benefits to human beings. The national condition of China determines that
the objective of Chinese conversion should be to develop productive forces and
meet the increasing demand for material and civilization development and
applications of advanced defense technology in civilian area will significantly
promote the economy, technology and society, and bring new social culture and
material prosperity. In order to be converted to productive forces, science and
technology must be effectively converted into products that meet the demand.
In
the mid-fifties, Mao Zedong required that military industries have
dual-productive abilities for military and civilian. However, defense conversion
in China began actually in the late 1970’s. Deng Ziaoping proposed that
military science and technology should serve the national economy, and then a
new era of the combination of military with civilian started. Chinese military
industries have now achieved preliminary success in changing the status from
sole military production to a combination of military with civilian production.
In
the early 1990’s, the output value from civil products had counted more than
70 percent of the total of military enterprises. For example, the annual
production of color TV sets has increased from ten thousand to twelve million
during the past ten years, in which military enterprises, Changhong and Panda
took about 30 percent of the total. Almost one half of all civilian motorcycles
were produced by enterprises of military sector. With further reform and
openness to abroad, Chinese defense conversion is now accelerating to a new
phase. A recent investigation in more than two hundred defense institutions, by
China Defense Science and Technology Information Center, shows that these
institutions have set up a new management structure and are now in a new stage
of converting new technologies into civilian applications. Up to now, more than
84 percent institutions have had their defense programs and other programs
managed separately. The income from civilian products counts for more than 41
per cent of the total. A series of high-tech products have been produced
consisting of computers, communication equipment, auto-control system,
electrical-mechanical apparatus and transporting vehicles, etc.
Nuclear
industries in china used to develop in an enclosed style of management. With the
emphasis on the transition of the national economy, we have made a significant
progress in nuclear power, application of radioactive isotopes and radiation
technology, development of high-tech civil products, controlling of nuclear
waste, and environment protection technology development. According to a
statistic in 1992, the output value of civil products took about 61 percent of
the total of nuclear industries.
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