Numbers

The Four Modernizations

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“Wei gained international fame with the publication of his classic essay, 'The Fifth Modernization: Democracy.' Posted on the Democracy Wall in Beijing on Dec. 5, 1978, the essay exploded the myth that Deng Xiaoping's 'four modernizations' -- radical economic reforms that excluded any political change -- would improve the lot of the masses. Wei argued that without true democracy all promises of a better life for China would remain just that."

“Moreover, says Stephen Lam, who is now chief spokesperson for Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa, Chinese entry into the World Trade Organization should be a great new opportunity for Hong Kong as an entry point into China. Lam was director of the Hong Trade Economic and Trade Office in Toronto from 1991 to 1994.

"Lam, who was in Toronto recently, believes that Chinese entry into the WTO will provide a wide range of opportunities for service industries based in Hong Kong - from finance, insurance, and information and communications to construction, tourism and various business services - just as China's 'Four Modernizations' plan led to a massive shift of Hong Kong manufacturing into southern China.”

“Central to this premise is Washington's relationship with Taiwan, an island of 23 million people that China generally views as a renegade province. The white paper said Washington's continued arms sales to Taiwan were stymieing its attempts to unite with the island. In September, the Pentagon approved the sale of $1.3 billion in arms, including $150 million worth of the AIM-120C Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM.

"These events prompted a profound debate over the past year in China about whether 'peace and development are the dominant trend of the times.' That formulation, by the late leader Deng Xiaoping, is the fundamental underpinning of China's economic reform program, which placed economic development on the top of its four modernizations and national defense on the bottom. “

“Deng Xiaoping (dung' shou'ping') 1904-1997 Born in Sichuan province, Mr. Deng became a member of the Chinese Communist Party while studying in France in the 1920s. A veteran of the Long March, he joined the Party Central Committee in 1945. Called to Beijing as deputy premier in 1952, he rose rapidly, joining the Politburo Standing Committee in 1956.

"A pragmatist, he worked with Liu Shaoqi after the Great Leap Forward to restore the economy. In the Cultural Revolution, he was purged and sent to work in a tractor factory. Reinstated by Zhou Enlai as deputy premier in 1973, he took over the administration when Zhou fell ill, eagerly implementing his mentor's 'Four Modernizations.'"

“That is further evidence that China's leaders are miscalculating, by wanting too much too soon and pursuing a muddled maritime strategy that is likely to backfire. China's former paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping, must be spinning in his grave. Comprehending that the Soviet Union could not sustain vast military spending on the basis of a command economy, he set China on a different course. Deng intended to build up China's wealth and power by means of engagement with market forces, while ensuring that the Communist Party remained in control.

"But Deng intended to do so gradually, since he was astute enough to realize that moving too quickly in this direction would only frighten other countries into forming a counterbalancing coalition. As a veteran political commissar in the military, and Long March veteran, Deng was able to insist that military modernization be the last of China's 'four modernizations.' But his successors, engineer-bureaucrats lacking military experience, do not possess Deng's wisdom or his cachet with the military. And now the rebuilding of the Varyag will set alarm bells ringing that it could become the first in a fleet of Chinese aircraft carriers."

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