331' characteristic of chinars attitude towards nuclear lreapons has been a tendency to dovngrade the signi.ficance of these rreapons. This was derived very much frorn the judgement on the part of the chinese r-eadership that thermonucleai war wagedupon china because of the land configuration and population distribution wourd not produce as extensive daraage as it woutA in some other countl:ies. That was thereasoning stated behind such an attitude of dovngrading. Even if IIao Zedong,svords about the atom bomb as a ,,paper tigerr' l+6/ aru .rJt .r."""""rify- *- representative ' some chinese statements "".r t6 reflect a befief that nucrearveapons are not so powerful and effective as they appear to be" At the same timeother Chinese statements reveal that China has been very r0uch avare of thedisastrous implications of a thermonuclear war for China and for the vorld. 332' chinars defence poricy has for many years been based on the concept of a "peoplets'ar" on the one hard and nuctear deterrence on the other. rn the f96osthe peoplers war concept- was the dorninating feature. According to Mao zedonS,an attack on china, rrhether nuc.]ear or conventional, r,rould have to be fofr,owedby an invasion of ground forces, and here the supremacy of the peopfe,s warconcept rrould be fe't. Hostile forces would be lured deep into ch-inars te*itory,"bogged dovn in endless battles and drovned in a hostile ;lrrur, "";;. !?,/ 333' During the last years it wou.rd seem that the adherents of the concept thatlren are rnore important thar weapons have 10st ground. Furthernore, there are now indications that efforts are under way tc deveiop more modern general_purposeforces in order to meet more r-inited ririt"ry eontingencies than the extremes ofnucl-egr deterrence or nass war. There ave afso recent indications that china isinterested in developing tactical nuclear r^reapons. Development and deplol,ment ofsuch weapons woul"d probabl-y indieate a fundarnent a.l ehange in the underiyrngconcepts of Chinars defence policy. l+. Nuclear doctrines of the United. Kingdorl
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing China's defense policy and its attitude towards nuclear weapons, as well as the implications of a thermonuclear war. It does not seem to be related to economic development, natural resources, agriculture, forestry, fishing, industry, transport, communication, international trade, health, education, employment, humanitarian aid, or culture. The focus is on China's military strategy and its approach to nuclear weapons.

**Category**
Science and Technology