BUILD A STRONG MILITARY

BUILD A STRONG MILITARY*

March 11, 2013

Building a strong military is an ongoing quest of our Party. In every historical period, our Party set clear goals and targets to guide military development in a timely manner in response to the changing situation and evolving needs.

After extensive consultation and in-depth reflection, I proposed at an enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission at the end of last year that we should strive to build people’s armed forces that obey the Party’s command, can fight and win, and maintain exemplary conduct. This is a summary of our Party’s successful experience in building and running the armed forces in response to developments and changes in the international strategic situation and our national security environment, aimed to solve prominent problems in military development. Developing such forces is our Party’s goal of building a strong military in the new era. This goal makes clear the priorities in military development. It is fundamental for the military to follow the Party’s command, which determines the military’s political orientation. It is vital for the military to be capable of fighting to win, which is the basic function of the military as well as the fundamental objective of its development. It is essential for the military to display exemplary conduct that demonstrates its nature, aspiration and character. Interrelated and inseparable, the three are consistent with the guiding philosophy and principles for building and running the military and consistent with the principle of building modern, revolutionary, and standardized armed forces. Our armed forces must understand this goal, bear it in mind in their efforts to promote military development, reform and preparation for military struggle, and bring national defense and military development to a new level.

As the armed forces that carry out the Party’s political tasks, the military must follow the Party’s command as the top priority to ensure that it is loyal, untarnished, and reliable. The military was founded by the Party. It has always been closely connected with the Party and has always acted and fought under its absolute leadership. Our Party is a Marxist party that serves the people wholeheartedly. Only by upholding the Party’s absolute leadership over the military can we guarantee the nature of the military.

Over the past 80 years and more, our armed forces have maintained strong unity, cohesion, and combat effectiveness, withstood various tests, and won one victory after another. Fundamental to this is the strong leadership of the Party. Without it, the military will betray its duty. At any time and under any circumstances, we must ensure the absolute leadership of the Party over the military, which obeys the command of the Party, serves the people, follows the Party’s theories, guidelines, principles and policies, remains loyal to the Party, socialism, the country and the people, and acts upon the command of the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission in all its actions.

Hostile forces dream of breaching the “great wall” of our military. They use every means to infiltrate it ideologically, advocating that the military should be freed from Party control and its political influence, and come under the exclusive command of the government. In the final analysis, it is an attempt to drive a wedge between our armed forces and Party leadership. In addition, there have been changes in the composition of the armed forces, and some service personnel are unaware of the paramount importance of the principle – the Party must command the gun. We must take it seriously. 

We must give priority to developing and managing the military ideologically and politically. The military should take the lead in studying and implementing the decisions of the 18th National Congress of the Party, further the education campaign on socialism with Chinese characteristics, and continue to foster core values among contemporary revolutionary service personnel. The military should develop an advanced military culture, carry out educational activities on convictions and principles, and organize officers and soldiers to study the history of the Party and the armed forces. The military should thereby be more confident and proactive in following the Party’s absolute leadership, which is the solid ideological and political foundation for officers and soldiers to follow the Party’s command. It is imperative to strengthen the Party’s role in the military, maintain the progressive and wholesome nature of Party members, and develop Party organizations at all levels to act as leadership core and play a decisive role in our work. In selecting and appointing officers, we must adopt the right approach. We should apply political convictions as a measure when reviewing and appointing officers to ensure that our weaponry is always in the hands of those who are reliable and loyal to the Party. 

Since the military is first of all a fighting force, we must focus all our efforts on improving its ability to win battles. We are committed to the path of peaceful development; we will never seek hegemony or expansion or engage in aggression. But if anyone attempts to impose war on us, we must be able to secure a decisive victory. We long for peace, but will never sacrifice our legitimate rights or interests. Under no circumstances will we trade off the core interests of the country. 

Only those who are able to fight can stop war; only when we are prepared for war can we prevent it; war will be upon us if we are weak – this is the dialectic of war and peace. No one would ever dare claim to be the greatest of all writers, but in battle, only one can emerge victorious. Our military is known for its high combat capabilities, and has achieved many glorious exploits. 

At the same time, we must be aware that the standards of combat capability constantly evolve in practice. Therefore, our past success does not necessarily mean we are able to win battles now. We face two problems: Our military is not yet fully prepared to fight a modern war, and our military officers have potential for improvement in commanding a modern war. 

We must focus on the key task of building a strong military which is able to fight to win, make sure that soldiers are capable of fighting, officers are capable of commanding, and troops are well trained. We must uphold combat capability as the sole and fundamental standard for military development. We should promote our military development and preparedness to meet the needs of war, being ready to fight and win at all times and in all circumstances. 

We should improve strategic military guidance to keep pace with the times, raise combat readiness of our forces, focus on improving core military capabilities, make overall plans for developing our capacity in non-war military activities, and take effective measures to complete preparations as early as possible. We should accelerate informatization and make solid efforts to develop new combat forces and new and high-tech weapons and equipment. We will move faster to build modern logistics, train high-caliber military personnel, further reform national defense and the armed forces, and build a system of modern military forces with Chinese characteristics. 

Military training is a rehearsal for possible wars which may break out in the future. It should be a clear direction of our armed forces. We will train our forces against strict and demanding standards to meet actual war needs, and strengthen military training under combat conditions, so that our military will be competent and strong enough to win battles.

In a relatively peaceful environment, our armed forces face a risk of mental laxity, and some officers and soldiers may slacken their efforts or drop their guard. Therefore, we must strengthen education on cultivating an indomitable fighting spirit, encouraging aspiration to heroism and tenacity in our armed forces, and maintain enthusiasm for revolution and a strong will to combat. 

Exemplary conduct is a unique feature and the political strength of our military. Improving conduct must be a fundamental and long-term task to ensure solid political foundations for our people’s armed forces. At all times, exemplary conduct can help build a heroic troop while slackness will lead to the destruction of previously victorious forces. Over the years, our armed forces have cultivated fine traditions and exemplary conduct. To pass down this invaluable legacy from generation to generation is of paramount importance for military development.

With the changes in the social environment, the military does not and cannot exist in a vacuum. Therefore, negative social practices inevitably manifest themselves in the military, and some vices constantly undermine our troops. Whether serious or mild, any illness must be treated in a timely manner. If concealed for fear of medical treatment, a mild illness will eventually become a serious one, or even a chronic one difficult to cure. Should this be allowed to happen, our army will lose its combat capability, let alone win battles. “Wood disintegrates if it becomes worm-ridden; a wall will collapse if the mortar perishes.” If we fail to take timely action and adopt a laissez-faire attitude towards our problems, we will end up destroying the “great wall” of our forces. This is no exaggeration.

In accordance with the overall plans and decisions of the Central Military Commission, our armed forces are now working hard to improve their conduct, and have achieved preliminary results. However, this is just a start. It is always necessary to see things through from beginning to end, to ensure that no one treats these plans as a temporary measure, like a passing gust of wind. Now, the regulations and requirements that we have developed touch on some of the problems in our military, but some deep-seated problems have not yet been addressed.

Next, we must step up efforts to improve our working style, ensure good conduct in every aspect of military development and management, and stay realistic, grounded, and results-oriented. Our military must reinforce the basic principle of running the military strictly and in accordance with the law, and focus on enforcing discipline. We should resolutely fight against corruption and privileges, and combat and rectify the practices of form over substance, bureaucratism, falsification, extravagance, and waste. In doing this, we will merit our long-established reputation as the armed forces of the people. We must carry out a campaign on studying the Party Constitution and promoting exemplary conduct, follow the legacy of the Rectification Movement, and endeavor to solve major problems of great concern to officers and soldiers, especially unhealthy tendencies among soldiers. 

The grassroots are the foundation of all our work and combat capability of our armed forces. Departments at all levels should be more aware of the importance of strengthening and consolidating the grassroots. They should focus their work on the grassroots and investigate and resolve prominent conflicts and problems at this level, so as to promote overall progress.

* Part of the speech at the plenary meeting of the People’s Liberation Army delegation during  the First Session of the 12th National People’s Congress.

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