Chinese military leader stresses butter vs. guns

By Compiled From Wire Service Dispatches With Analysis From Monitor Correspondents Around The World; Edited By Anne Collier

January 5, 1983

Peking

A Chinese military leader stressed that defense must be subordinate to improving China's lackluster economy and urged senior Army officers to end their opposition to current reformist policies.

The People's Daily quoted Yang Dezhi, chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), as saying its officers should study foreign military technology. This is a keystone of Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping's reformist policy, but regarded with suspicion by Maoist diehards.