ABSTRACT In China's search for modernization since the early twentieth century, international contingencies have served as the systemic catalyst that fostered the Chinese statist economic planning and
In China's search for modernization since the early twentieth century, international contingencies have served as the systemic catalyst that fostered the Chinese statist economic planning and aspirations in scientific and technological (S&T) advancement. This points to an “outside‐in” trajectory. This paper examines two pivotal junctures of imminent national security challenges confronting China: (1) the Kuomintang (KMT) of the 1930s as Chiang Kai‐shek prepared for military struggles against Imperial Japan; and (2) the People's Republic of China (PRC) today under Xi Jinping and its techno‐security programs amidst heightening strategic competition with the United States. Though the nature of these structural shocks is vastly different, they are determinative of China's push for industrial and high‐tech self‐sufficiency. Both Chiang and Xi interpreted and responded to foreign stresses through an amalgamation of Chinese traditions and technonationalism. However, the extent of the state's propensity for a restrained or assertive strategic posture also matters.
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Dean P. Chen (2026) studied this question.
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