China is reviving a Cold War-era military strategy as relations with the United States sour, resurrecting Mao Zedong's 'Third Front' project to bolster national defences. The original initiative, launched in 1964, mobilised 15 million people to build secret factories in remote mountainous regions far from potential invading forces.
Now, the Communist Party is again turning to those heartlands in inland provinces such as Sichuan, Gansu and Ningxia. In July 2024, party leaders passed a resolution to 'develop China's strategic hinterland and ensure backup plans for key industries' to boost resilience against invasion or isolation from global markets.
Recent satellite imagery indicates China is expanding its nuclear arsenal near old Third Front facilities. The country is estimated to have 600 warheads, with US projections expecting this to more than double in the next decade. Much of this build-up is occurring in the remote regions that once hosted the 1960s project.
While China's defence spending remains lower than the US, the gap is narrowing. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Chinese defence spending rose from one-sixth of US levels in 2012 to one-third in 2024, reaching $317.6bn. China historian Covell Meyskens notes that unlike the 1960s, when China was 'a very poor third world country', it is now a 'peer' in the western Pacific.
The revival reflects President Xi Jinping's focus on national self-resilience, reminiscent of Mao's era. However, the deep economic interdependence between the US and China may reduce the risk of conflict, a key difference from the Cold War context of the original Third Front.
