Build a Talent-Strong Military in the New Era

Build a Talent-Strong Military in the New Era*

November 26, 2021

Cultivating competent personnel is key to building a strong military. Talent is essential for our armed forces to achieve high-quality development, stand out in military competition, and seize the initiative in future wars. This is a real and urgent requirement in building our military into a world-class armed force and will have a far-reaching influence on its development. Following the guiding principles of this year’s Central Conference on Talent, we must further implement the strategy of strengthening the military by cultivating competent personnel for the new era. This strategy will provide solid support for realizing the centenary goal of our armed forces and ensure that the general level of our military personnel will be raised to the level of the most powerful countries.

At the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee in 2021, the Party summarized its major achievements and successful experience of a century’s endeavor. It emphasized upholding Party leadership over talent management, implementing the strategy of invigorating the country by cultivating talent in the new era, building China into the world’s leading talent center and innovation frontier, and assembling the best minds across the world. In accordance with the above guidelines, we will plan carefully to develop capable service personnel for the new era.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, the CPC Central Committee and the Central Military Commission have implemented a strategy to build a talent-strong military. Keeping to the correct political direction and focusing on training for combat readiness, we have optimized the structure of our military staff for a modern armed force, furthered the reform of policy framework, and promoted open and inclusive management of service personnel. Through the above efforts, our military has made historic progress in this endeavor.

As the world is undergoing an accelerating rate of change on a scale unseen in a century, new technology and military revolutions are taking place with each passing day. Our military is marching towards its centenary goal by implementing the new three-step strategy for the modernization of national defense and the army. The armed forces must develop a stronger sense of mission and urgency in developing a solid base of competent personnel, create better plans, and act upon them faster. We must ensure that outstanding people buttress the effort to strengthen our military.

In building a talent-strong military, we must implement the Party’s philosophy on strengthening the military and our military strategy for the new era, and follow the strategic guidelines for modernizing national defense and the army. We must work hard to realize the centenary goal of the armed forces. To this end, we will upgrade the qualities and capabilities, structure and distribution, and cultivation and management of our military personnel; we will train high-caliber military personnel of both ability and integrity; we will ensure major progress across the whole army and breakthroughs in key areas.

In building a talent-strong military, we must ensure that the Party exercises absolute leadership over personnel management in the armed forces in every respect and throughout the whole process; we must focus on the ability to fight and win; we must look at the frontiers of global military development, meet the major needs of national security, and serve the task of national defense and military modernization; we must provide comprehensive training, and put talent to the right posts under a reformed policy framework for service personnel.

In building a talent-strong military, we must coordinate all endeavors, covering training, job placement, evaluation, service, support, and motivation, and make breakthroughs in priority areas. We must develop military talent within the framework of state-level planning on talent, and orient relevant plans, policies and work towards meeting military requirements, leading to efficient management of military personnel.

Political commitment is the most important criterion and political integrity an essential requirement for our military personnel. We will strengthen education on political integrity and commitment in the military, and conduct evaluation of service personnel from a political perspective so as to ensure their absolute loyalty to the Party and the state.

We will pursue independent development of competent personnel, mainly by the armed forces and also through other channels, and build a distinctive Chinese model to foster more soldiers with greater warfighting capabilities. We will redouble our efforts to improve the technological knowhow of our military staff, so that they can fight and win in modern wars. We will implement education guidelines appropriate to the new era, prioritize the development of military schooling, and develop first-class military academies and military talent. We encourage our service personnel to temper their body and character in drills and operations.

We will make effective and flexible use of talent in all fields, and ensure precise and efficient allocation of human resources, so that they can best play their role in the most suitable positions. We will adopt different policies for different fields, improve the training and performance of commanders for joint operations, new types of combat personnel, and high-caliber personnel for technological innovation and for strategic management, and leverage the strengths of both service members and civilian staff in the armed forces.

We will find right ways to foster military personnel, identify their diverse needs for career development, and update our philosophy and approaches towards specialized, detailed and well-conceived management. We will restructure the policy framework for military human resources, and improve support policies and systems. With trust, respect, support and care from the military, our servicemen and servicewomen will be more active and creative in work.

The Central Military Commission must strengthen its leadership over human resources, and Party committees in the military must fulfill their principal responsibilities. Leading officials, particularly senior officials, must be adept at identifying and cultivating talent. Central Party and government departments, along with local Party committees and governments, must act in concert to support the military in this field.

* Main points of the speech at the Central Military Commission Conference on Talent.

(Not to be republished for any commercial or other purposes.)