View source for Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense

{{Short description|Chinese government body (1982–2008)}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}

{{For|the current agency|State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense}}

The '''Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense''' ('''COSTIND'''; {{zh|s=国防科学技术工业委员会|labels=no}}) was a civilian commission within the [[State Council of China|State Council]] of the [[People's Republic of China]], responsible for setting policy for [[defense procurement]]. It was considered as the Chinese counterpart of [[DARPA]] of the US. The ministry was formed in 1982 to centralize Chinese defense procurement and technology whose responsibility had been distributed among several agencies. In March 2008, COSTIND was merged into a new ministry called the [[Ministry of Industry and Information Technology]] (MIIT) and renamed as the [[State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense|State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense]] (SASTIND).<ref>{{cite web|title=China's National Defense in 2008|url=http://english.gov.cn/official/2009-01/20/content_1210227_13.htm|access-date=15 December 2012|publisher=[[State Council of the People's Republic of China]]|quote=According to the Plan for Restructuring the State Council passed by the First Session of the Eleventh National People's Congress in 2008, the Science, Technology and Industry Commission for National Defense of the People's Republic of China has been superseded by the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109190402/http://english.gov.cn/official/2009-01/20/content_1210227_13.htm|archive-date=9 November 2012}}</ref> The final-term COSTIND deputy director, [[Chen Qiufa]], was named as the head of SASTIND.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2015/0508/c1001-26969808.html |script-title=zh:陈求发任辽宁省代省长 |trans-title=Chen Qiufa appointed acting governor of Liaoning |language=zh |newspaper=[[People's Daily]] |date=2015-05-08}}</ref>

==History==
In the late-1990s, there was a massive reorganization of the Chinese defense industry. The main focus of this reorganization was to separate the purchasing of weaponry which became the responsibility of the General Armaments Division of the [[People's Liberation Army]], the production and development of weaponry which became the responsibility of several different enterprises such as [[China Northern Industries]] and China Southern Industries which were state-owned but not under direct state management, and the development of policy for these industries which became the responsibility of COSTIND. Because of the massive change in COSTIND, many analysts referred to the new COSTIND and the old COSTIND.

COSTIND played an important role in the [[space program of China]] as one of its subagencies the [[China National Space Administration]] is responsible for Chinese space policy. COSTIND administered the China Engineering and Technology Information Network (CETIN), which has been described as a "one-stop shop for foreign military technology information."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hannas |first=William C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sWcolDneRrMC |title=Chinese Industrial Espionage: Technology Acquisition and Military Modernisation |last2=Mulvenon |first2=James |last3=Puglisi |first3=Anna B. |date=2013-06-14 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-95261-7 |pages=40 |language=en |author-link3=Anna B. Puglisi}}</ref> French journalist [[Roger Faligot]] described COSTIND as an "intelligence vacuum cleaner" for collecting foreign scientific, technological, and industrial information.<ref name=":34">{{cite book |last=Faligot |first=Roger |title=Chinese Spies: From Chairman Mao to Xi Jinping |title-link=Chinese Spies: From Chairman Mao to Xi Jinping |date=June 2019 |publisher=[[C. Hurst & Co.]] |isbn=978-1-78738-096-7 |pages=247 |language=en |translator-last=Lehrer |translator-first=Natasha |oclc=1104999295 |author-link=Roger Faligot |translator-link=Natasha Lehrer}}</ref>

According to the [[Nuclear Threat Initiative]], the [[China Atomic Energy Authority]] was part of COSTIND.<ref>[http://www.nti.org/db/china/caea.htm China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107150215/http://www.nti.org/db/China/caea.htm|date=2009-01-07}}</ref>

==Universities administered by COSTIND==
* [[Beijing Institute of Technology]]
* [[Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics]]
* [[Harbin Engineering University]]
* [[Harbin Institute of Technology]]
* [[Northwestern Polytechnical University]]
* [[Nanjing Aeronautics and Astronautics University]]
* [[Nanjing University of Science and Technology]]

==Enterprises administered by COSTIND==
* [[AVIC I|China Aviation Industry Corporation I]]
* [[AVIC II|China Aviation Industry Corporation II]]
* [[China Northern Industries|China North Industries Group Corporation]]
* [[China South Industries Group Corporation]]
* [[China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation]]
* [[China State Shipbuilding Corporation]]
* [[China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation]]
* [[China Aerospace Machinery and Electronics Corporation]]
* [[China National Nuclear Corporation]]
* [[Nuclear power in China|China Nuclear Engineering & Construction Group]]

==List of chairmen==
#[[Chen Bin]] (陈彬)
#[[Ding Henggao]] (丁衡高)
#[[Cao Gangchuan]]: 1996–1998
#[[Liu Jibin]] (刘积斌): 1998–2003
#[[Zhang Yunchuan]]: 2003–2007
#[[Zhang Qingwei]]: 2007–2008

==See also==
*[[Defence Research and Development Organisation]] (DRDO), Indian counterpart

==References==
<references/>

{{Public sector space agencies}}
{{People's Liberation Army}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Commission For Science, Technology And Industry For National Defense}}
[[Category:Government ministries of China]]
[[Category:Military of the People's Republic of China]]
[[Category:Military acquisition]]