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    "localId": "486501401",
    "label": "Report, Central Intelligence Agency, Vulnerabilities of Communist China, Special Estimate 5",
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    "id": "486501401",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Report, Central Intelligence Agency, Vulnerabilities of Communist China, Special Estimate 5",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/486501401",
    "collections": [
        "President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)",
        "Intelligence Files"
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    "naId": 486501401,
    "levelOfDescription": "item",
    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 22,
            "logicalDate": "1951-05-22",
            "month": 5,
            "year": 1951
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{
    "seq": 12,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602196/875518/875518-04-012.tif",
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    "ocrText": "TOP SECRET\nAPPENDIX A\nVULNERABILITIES OF CHINESE COMMUNIST REGIME\nTO MILITARY ACTION\n1. General. Several factors condition the vulnerability of the Chinese\nCommunist regime to military action. Some of these are basic to China\nregardless of the regime in power. The internal transportation system\nis inadequate and there is consequently a tendency toward autonomous\neconomic, social, political, and military regions. The low level of\nindustrialization has forced China to depend on outside sources for all\nbut the small and simple types of military equipment. The enormous\npopulation can provide an almost inexhaustible supply of untrained\nmilitary manpower, but the general economic and administrative\ndevelopment of the country is so backward that neither the Nationalists\nnor the Communists have been able effectively to exploit China's full\nmanpower resources for military purposes. The almost complete lack\nof steel facilities and indigenous petroleum resources and the small\noutput of the steel industry force China to rely on foreign sources for\nthe support of its military establishment.\n2. Other factors conditioning Chinese Communist vulnerability to\nmilitary action are peculiar to the Communist regime's present situation.\nThe most important of these is the war in Korea, which has diverted\na major part of Communist China's military, transportation, and\neconomic resources to meet the requirements of this large-scale\noperation. This in turn has prevented the Communists from carrying\nout their program of economic reconstruction and development. It\nhas also undoubtedly delayed the complete consolidation of control over\nChina proper, particularly in the areas of South China which were\nlast to be \"liberated\" and which are most vulnerable to guerrilla attack\nand amphibious invasion. Finally, there have been indications of a\ngrowing dissatisfaction with the Communist regime. This dissatisfaction,\nalthough presently not serious enough to constitute a real danger to the\nregime's control, represents a potential source of support to an effec-\ntively organized opposition movement.\n- 9 -\nTOP SECRET"
}