Xi stresses further strengthening armed forces by training competent personnel

BEIJING -- With the 95th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) approaching, the Political Bureau of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held on Thursday afternoon the 41st group study session on further implementing the strategy of strengthening the military by training competent personnel in the new era.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the study session and delivered a speech. On behalf of the CPC Central Committee and the Central Military Commission (CMC), he extended festival greetings to all members of the PLA, the People's Armed Police Force, civilian personnel of the PLA, and members of the militia and the reserve forces.

Xi stressed that we should implement the strategy of strengthening the military by training competent personnel in the new era. By raising the capacity and competence of military personnel and comprehensively transforming personnel structure and layout as well as personnel development and management, we will cultivate a new type of high-caliber and professional military personnel that boast both moral integrity and professional competence. All these efforts are of great significance to realizing the Party's goal of strengthening the military in the new era and building it into world-class armed forces. The guiding principles of the Central Talent Work Conference should be carried out, and so should be those of the talent work conference of the CMC. Xi stressed that competent personnel will play a greater role in guiding and supporting the development of the military as we thoroughly implement our strategy.

Shen Zhihua, chief of the Institute for Military Political Work under the Academy of Military Sciences, gave a lecture on how to further implement the strategy of strengthening the military by training competent personnel in the new era and put forward his opinions and proposals.

In his remarks, Xi stressed that a pool of competent personnel is key to the building of strong armed forces. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, the CPC Central Committee and the CMC have prioritized the training of competent personnel in a bid to build a strong military in the new era. Great efforts have been made to reassert the political principle of the Party exercising leadership over personnel, to clarify that the cultivation of military personnel must be combat-oriented, to optimize the layout for the development of military personnel, to deepen reform in human resources policies and systems, and to promote openness and integration in talent work. Historic achievements have thus been made in cultivating military personnel.

Xi noted that the world has entered a new period of volatility and transformation, and instability and uncertainty are increasing in China's national security landscape. In the next five years, the central task for developing our military is to realize its centenary goal. Efforts should be made to comprehensively strengthen military personnel by increasing their awareness of potential dangers, sense of responsibility and willingness to forge ahead.

To ensure the personnel we trained are competent enough to serve the cause of building strong armed forces, it is imperative that we grasp the occupational characteristics of the military service and the laws governing the development of military personnel, and make personnel work more targeted and effective, stressed Xi. We must lay emphasis on political integrity when cultivating, evaluating and appointing personnel, so that the Party's absolute leadership over the military is implemented in the whole process of personnel work, said Xi. He emphasized that the armed forces must always be led by reliable people who are loyal to the Party. Noting that the starting point and ultimate goal of personnel work is to build armed forces that are able to fight and win, Xi called for efforts to enhance the supply of personnel with strong combat readiness in close step with developments in the forms of war.

The armed forces should redouble efforts to study modern science and technology, especially military-related high technology, so that they better understand and apply science and technology to make innovations in this regard, and enhance their caliber by improving scientific and technological competence, said Xi.

Xi noted that further efforts should be made to address prominent issues constraining the armed forces' personnel work, calling for coordinated endeavors to promote reform and innovation in identifying, pooling, cultivating and appointing competent personnel. We should continue to take the approach to cultivating talent by ourselves, expand the channels of talent cultivation and explore new ways in this regard. We should also carry forward the military education policy for the new era, implement the strategy to prioritize the development of military education institutions and advance the reform of those institutions, said Xi.

It is imperative that we cultivate and identify competent personnel in major missions and the frontline. Efforts are needed to make innovations in managing military human resources, make systematic plans for career paths of various personnel, ensure targeted distribution and allocation of them, and promote routine and orderly exchanges. In better serving competent personnel, comprehensive measures should be taken to provide them with sound evaluation, incentives and support, Xi said.

Xi also urged efforts to develop systems for military personnel with comparative strengths, improve supporting policies and ensure smooth transfer between old and new policies.

Xi stressed that strong support from the entire Party and all sectors throughout the country is essential to military personnel work. We should promote military-civilian communication and coordination, strive to meet military demand, and coordinate civilian plans, policies and work with those of the military, so as to deeply integrate our military's personnel work into our country's efforts to develop a quality workforce.

Xi said that both the central Party and government departments, and local Party committees and governments at all levels should raise their awareness of national defense, care as always about military personnel work, and offer support in terms of policy-making and resource-sharing. Military personnel's concerns and difficulties, such as employment of their spouses, kindergarten and school enrollment of their children, implementation of preferential treatment policies, and support for demobilized military personnel, should also be properly addressed. Xi called for concerted efforts to promote military personnel work and further contribute to the cause of strengthening the armed forces.