China Promises To Build World Class Army
Less than a month after the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Chinese military has taken measures to become “worldclass.”
China will basically complete modernisation of national defence and armed forces by 2035 and fully build the army into “world-class forces” by the mid-21st century, pledged Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, in his report to the congress held in October.
Loyal to party
The Central Military Commission (CMC) issued a guideline on November 5 to affirm the absolute leadership of the Party over the army, requiring that troops be absolutely loyal, honest and reliable to Mr Xi, who is also chairman of the CMC.
The CMC said the armed forces should deeply and comprehensively implement a system in which the chairman of the CMC has overall responsibility for the military. The system was added to the CPC Constitution at the Party congress.
The top priority of maintaining the authority of the leadership core is to safeguard the CMC chairperson responsibility system, Xu Qiliang, vice chairman of the CMC, wrote in the People’s Daily on Tuesday. “In the face of profound and complex changes at home and abroad, along with fierce ideological struggles, it’s a fundamental issue for our military to maintain its original nature, tenet and colour,” Mr Xu said in the article. Noting the political environment in the military has improved, Mr Xu ordered troops to strengthen their consciousness in maintaining political integrity, thinking in bigpicture terms, following the leadership core and keeping in alignment.
Built to fight
“A military is built to fight. Our military must regard combat capability as the criterion to meet in all its work and focus on how to win when it is called on,” Mr Xi said at the CPC National Congress. During his inspection tour to the CMC joint battle command centre on November 3, Mr Xi reiterated the need for the armed forces to improve their combat capability and readiness for war.
“The capability to win is strategically important in safeguarding national security, and strengthening that capability and combat readiness in the new era would provide strategic support to the realization of the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation,” Mr Xi said, urging progress in joint operation command systems and training conducted under combat conditions.
To sharpen the military’s fighting capacity, reforms have been made in the past few years, including the establishment of the PLA Army General Command, PLA Rocket Force and PLA Strategic Support Force.
The four general departments were reorganised into 15 agencies of the CMC, and five theatre commands have replaced the seven military area commands.