When President Sukarno of Indonesia inquired about China’s economy in 1956, Mao Zedong replied candidly that the country remained poor and agrarian and didn’t have much to export “apart from some apples, peanuts, pig bristles and soybeans.”What Mao’s modesty concealed was his desperation to industrialize, especially for military purposes,...

Source: Wall Street Journal February 01, 2019 15:56 UTC