China’s Defense High-Tech Leadership: Implications for S&T Innovation

Over the last decade or more, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has sought to establish an effective defense high-tech innovation system. The Science and Technology Committee (STC) under the General Armaments Department (GAD) has been a leading institution in this reform process, but its track record has been decidedly mixed. The STC is the most senior body in the PLA and advises on high-tech and strategic platforms. As such, the current STC has become a more professionalized agency with stronger oversight and management functions and less a think tank on cutting-edge technologies compared to its former incarnation under the former Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND). A key drawback of the current STC though is its inability to provide the longterm, strategic vision for future defense innovation that the PLA needs.