In 1978, faced with the pressure to modernize and a declining budget, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) reluctantly agreed to join China's economic reform drive, expanding its internal economy to market-oriented civilian production. This work examines PLA's role in the economy up to 1998.

A comprehensive examination of the transformation of the Chinese People's Liberation Army into one of the most important actors in the Chinese economy -- an amalgam of military and commercial interests controlling a multi-billion dollar international business empire. The author provides the first documentary analysis of decision-making surrounding the origins of this post-1978 military- business complex. He offers a detailed picture of the system's wide-ranging structure and sectoral interests, and links this military commercialism to the rise of corruption in the ranks.

Considers potential Chinese responses to U.S. transformation efforts and offers possible U.S. counterresponses. For the past decade, Chinese military strategists have keenly observed the changes in U.S. national strategy and military transformation. This report examines the constraints, facilitators, and potential options for Chinese responses to U.S. transformation efforts and offers possible U.S. counterresponses (particularly in light of whether Taiwan moves toward or away from formal independence).

This report analyzes the individual strengths and weaknesses of China's defense industrial complex. It examines four specific defense-industrial sectors - missiles, aircraft, shipbuilding, and information technology. It argues that China's defense industry is gradually emerging from two and a half decades of neglect, inefficiency and corruption. As part of a larger RAND Project AIR FORCE study on Chinese military modernization, this document analyzes the individual strengths and weaknesses of four specific defense-industrial sectors - missile, aircraft, shipbuilding, and information technology - to explain variations in performance among those sectors, with a focus on differences in institutional arrangements, incentives, and exposure to market forces, and to evaluate the prospects for China's defense industry and its ability to contribute to military modernization.

Projects future growth in Chinese defense expenditures, evaluates the current and likely future capabilities of China's defense industries, and compares likely future defense expenditure levels with recent expenditures by the United States and the U.S. Air Force. Projects future growth in Chinese government expenditures as a whole and on defense in particular, evaluates the current and likely future capabilities of China's defense industries, and compares likely future expenditure levels with recent defense expenditures by the United States and the U.S. Air Force. The authors forecast that Chinese military spending is likely to rise from an estimated $69 billion in 2003 to $185 billion by 2025-approximately 61 percent of what the Department of Defense spent in 2003.

Analyzes the dynamics of the transfer of technology and capital between Taiwan and China and assesses their impact on cross-Strait relations and the worldwide semiconductor industry The flows of trade and investment across the Taiwan Strait have increased dramatically in recent years, driven largely by the increasing integration of the information technology (IT) sectors of Taiwan and the People's Republic of China. This report examines the economic and political implications of cross-Strait flows of technology and capital. The authors comprehensively analyze the investment and IT transfer dynamics between Taiwan and China and their implications for the global semiconductor industry and U.S. policymaking.

Is U.S. high-technology manufacturing at risk? In response to the concern that an increasing amount of high-technology manufacturing formerly performed in the United States is now being done overseas, the Office of Science and Technology Policy asked the Rand Corporation to provide analytic support to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. The support included a description of past and current trends of U.S. high-tech manufacturing, a theoretical and empirical economic analysis of traditional and high-tech manufacturing, and an analysis of U.S. research and development statistics and of trends in choices of academic disciplines.

This work presents the results of a conference that brought together experts to evaluate issues of structure and process in the People's Liberation Army.