Review Essay China’s Techno-Warriors, Another View

China’s growing technological capability has become the topic of the day among Western officials concerned with the national security and economic competitiveness implications of China’s growing prominence. The publication of a study which attempts to explain how security and competitiveness have been linked in the evolution of Chinese technology policies is therefore quite timely. The effort to locate this linkage in the development of an ideology of techno-nationalism resonates nicely with perceptions – held by many in Western capitals – of a China with a special passion for the acquisition of dual use technology and a determination to use political means to secure economic advantage. The appearance of Evan Feigenbaum’s book, which rightly locates China’s technological trajectory at the centre of many of the more important questions about the Chinese future, is thus to be welcomed. The book is organized chronologically, beginning with a long discussion of the militarization of science and technology (S&T) in the Maoist era. This is followed by chapters covering the early reform period, and the new challenges faced in the 1990s. The focus throughout is on the contribution of a group of individuals – referred to by the author as China’s “weaponeers” – who were responsible for the development and execution of China’s strategic weapons programmes. With Marshall Nie Rongzhen as their guiding force, the weaponeers are said to have developed a distinctive technical community and administrative style from the late 1950s to the late 1970s which were key to the success of those programmes. Furthermore, argues the author, if one wants to understand where Chinese high technology is going in the 21st century, it is imperative to understand the contributions of the weaponeers to the redirection of Chinese science and technology in the post Mao era. The book relies very heavily – perhaps too heavily, as suggested below – on the memoirs and official histories featuring the weaponeers which began to appear in the 1980s. The exploitation of these new primary sources provides additional insight into the once secret world of military research and development (R&D) during the Maoist period and is one of the strengths of the book. One of the central puzzles about China’s Techno-Warriors, though, is whether the insight gained from the new sources requires us to adjust our interpretations of this secret world and its significance. We have long known, after all, that under Mao’s leadership, the decision to build