Int 2
CONFIDENTIAL
From:
ACK 166
166/
RECK YA
15 AUG 1935
DESK
INDEX
Lieutenant Colonel P Leech
DI ROW3E
Ministry of Defence
Main Building
Whitehall
London SW1A 2HB
Jean Peter
PLA ANTI-CHEMICAL CORPS
Colonel W H Clements DEFENCE ATTACHÉ BRITISH EMBASSY
Action
In
PEKING
case
·NED
HUD
PA Capolony
405B
た
Ha's debate spreads to
ach with
PRC's capability to
me it
-
down
7 August 1986
ра па
14/8
1. You may be interested in a recent article in the "China Daily" of 22 July 1986 which was an interview with Jiang Zhizeng, described as "head of the Chemical Defence Department under the General Staff Headquarters".
2. Jiang said the Anti-Chemical Corps is at present responsible for both nuclear and chemical defence but it can also be used to assist in industrial and natural disasters. He went on to state
incl.
wucher "The Chinese Government has repeatedly declared that China will indely not be the first to use nuclear weapons under any circumstances dients? and will never use such weapons against non-nuclear countries".
However he went on to say that the huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons held by the two super powers, and their development of chemical weapons meant that China had to build up its own defences against possible future nuclear or chemical attack.
3. The Anti-Chemical Corps was formed in 1950 and appears to control an anti-nuclear as well as an anti-biological corps. It would seem that the Anti-Chemical Corps is in fact a NBC Corps. The corps uses some 50 types of Chinese-made equipment and the photograph accompanying the article shows a PLA soldier in protective clothing, but without a respirator, washing down a towed Type 54 76mm gun.
レ!!
4.
Indications from a recent Overt Intelligence Report (OIR) show that very little time is spent in units on NBC training and reports on equipment, particularly the respirator, indicate it is very unsophisticated. The failure to use a respirator in the photograph may confirm the comments in the recent OIR.
1
CONFIDENTIAL