282 { China’s Quest
China’s side, not the Soviet Union’s. China was now weak, but would only
grow stronger. Its international isolation would not last. A large attack now
would degrade China’s capabilities for a considerable time. It was irrespon-
sible for Soviet leadership not to “solve the Chinese problem” for at least sev-
eral generations while the opportunity presented itself. Soviet officials also
sounded out Moscow’s East European allies about possible use of nuclear
weapons against China. Some of Moscow’s East European consultations
regarding possible use of nuclear weapons were leaked to the Western press.
By mid-1969, Soviet media was making indirect threats of Soviet use of
nuclear weapons against China.
A less extreme Soviet option entailed a surgical attack with conventional
bombs against China’s gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment plant outside
Lanzhou in Gansu province.^34 Built with Soviet assistance in the 1950s as part
of Moscow’s aid to China’s nuclear weapons program, the plant produced
most if not all of the fissile material for China’s atomic bombs. Involving
many acres of complex machinery, the facility was highly vulnerable. Having
engineered the plant, the Soviets knew exactly what points to target. Heavy
conventional bombing would easily put the plant out of operation. Use of
conventional rather than atomic weapons would reduce the international
opprobrium resulting from an attack. The plant might eventually be rebuilt
underground—possibly in caves—but that would take many years.
Preparations for attack on the Lanzhou diffusion plant proceeded in
mid-1969. Advanced aircraft suitable for bombing attacks were redeployed
from East Europe to China’s borders;^35 they practiced bombing runs in Soviet
Kazakhstan. Air bases in appropriate locations to launch and recover the
strike aircraft were expanded or built in rush fashion and brought into op-
eration. Soviet ground forces were put into position to deal with Chinese
infantry attacks in retaliation for the bombing of the Lanzhou plant. Radio
transmissions from these Soviet forces alerted Chinese intelligence to these
preparations. Pakistan’s ambassador to Moscow also reported to his govern-
ment that Moscow was consulting its East European allies about a possible
surgical strike against the Lanzhou facility.^36 Pakistan was, of course, China’s
good friend and passed on this information.
China relied on its own capabilities in 1969 to deter Soviet attack. In es-
sence, China threatened to respond to any large Soviet attack by imposing
on the Soviet Union a large-scale and costly land war that the Soviet Union
would ultimately be unable to win. If the Soviet Union attacked China with
nuclear weapons, China would counterattack with infantry at times and
places of PLA choosing. China would use its vast geography and manpower to
wage a protracted “people’s war,” imposing a long and costly war on Moscow.
Moscow could choose to initiate a war, and perhaps when and how that was
done, but it would not be able to decide when and how to end the war. As a
Chinese statement of October 7 said: “China will never be intimidated by war