Robert CLIVER
The Third Front policy, a response to the perceived threat of U.S. and Soviet aggression at the height of the Cold War, refers to an ambitious but ultimately wasteful program for the military-industrial development of China’s remote mountainous hinterland.
The large scale of “Third Front” or “Third Line” (da sanxian) policy, a reaction to China’s vulnerability to U.S. and Soviet aggression during the Cold War, entailed massive investment in developing a military-industrial