From hypersonic missiles to undersea drones, the PLA is making leaps

Xi Jinping learnedPLA a lot from his first job. As secretary to Geng Biao, a vice-premier and defence minister, from 1979 to 1982, he handled sensitive documents and joined top-level conclaves. He travelled abroad for the first time. And he spent countless hours listening to Geng—a former general and ambassador—as they shuttled between meetings in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes or unwound playing a game of , also known as Go.More importantly, Mr Xi witnessed firsthand the parlous state of the . It had just been fought to a stalemate by Vietnam. It was still using old Soviet weapons technology, some of it dating to the second world war. And despite China opening diplomatic ties with America, Geng had failed to persuade it to supply missiles and other lethal arms during a visit there in 1980 (although he did get a private White House screening of “The Empire Strikes Back”).