BUILD OUR MILITARY INTO A WORLD-CLASS FORCE

BUILD OUR MILITARY INTO A WORLD-CLASS FORCE*

August 1, 2017

To achieve the Two Centenary Goals and realize the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation, after the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012 we set the goal for building a strong military in the new era: to develop a people’s military that obeys the Party’s command, can fight and win, and maintains exemplary conduct. We have also innovated our military strategic guidance and formulated military strategic guidelines in the new era. In 2014, we convened the Gutian Conference on Military Political Work, emphasizing that we must reinforce commitment to the Party in the armed forces and engage in a campaign to improve Party conduct, uphold integrity, and combat corruption. We have further reformed national defense and the military, setting up a new structure with the Central Military Commission exercising overall leadership, the theater commands responsible for military operations, and the services focusing on developing their capabilities. This represents an overall restructuring of the organization of the people’s military, and a historic step towards a military with Chinese characteristics. Our military now has a completely new system, organization, structure and image. We have run the military in accordance with the law and enforced strict discipline to bring about a fundamental transformation in the way our military is run. Following the principle that combat effectiveness is all that matters, we have strengthened military training and combat readiness to defend our territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests. In applying the new development philosophy in depth and developing higher quality and efficiency in our military, we have put more emphasis on innovation, intensity, efficiency, institutional progress, military training under combat conditions, and civil-military integration.

Through hard work over the past five years, we have reshaped the political atmosphere, organizational structure, services, conduct and image of the people’s armed forces. The forces have prepared themselves for a new start on the road towards a stronger military with Chinese characteristics.

History moves on. In the world today, the international situation is undergoing constant and dramatic changes. In China today, socialism with Chinese characteristics is advancing in all respects. We have a solid foundation and a golden opportunity and are full of confidence in our ability to realize the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation. At the same time, we must be fully aware that there will be obstacles on our way forward. Serious challenges, risks, difficulties and problems will continue to arise. These presage a great struggle with many new features.

At this new starting point, we must not forget that it was the heroic people’s military that lifted the Chinese nation out of misery and liberated the Chinese people. We feel more strongly than ever that in order to achieve national rejuvenation and better lives for the people, we must move faster to build the people’s military into a world-class force. We should stay true to our mission, keep moving forward, and make steady progress in building a strong military. 

— To build a strong military, we must uphold the Party’s absolute leadership over the military and make sure that the people’s military will always follow the Party. The Party’s leadership is a fundamental guarantee for the strong cohesion, creativity and combat capability of the military. The Party’s absolute leadership over the military is a defining feature of Chinese socialism, and a major source of political strength to the Party and the state. It is fundamental to building and strengthening the military. However the situation might change with the times, our military will always be the military of the Party and of the people. The military should maintain political commitment, think in terms of the general picture, follow the core leadership of the CPC Central Committee, and act in accordance with its requirements. It should safeguard the authority of the CPC Central Committee, uphold the fundamental principle of the Party’s absolute leadership over the military, and follow the command of the Central Committee and the Central Military Commission. On this matter of overall importance, we should remain especially clear-headed and unequivocal. There can be no wavering, no hesitation, and no ambiguity.

— To build a strong military, we must uphold and develop the Party’s military theory, and constantly open up new horizons for the military theory of Marxism and for military practice in contemporary China. The key to the continuous growth of the people’s military is the guidance of advanced military theory. Since its 18th National Congress, our Party has presented a series of new visions, new ideas, new perspectives, and new requirements for national defense and the military, and the Party’s philosophy on strengthening the military for the new era has taken shape. The military should fully implement the Party’s theory, educate the troops in the Party’s philosophy, and continue to make progress. There is no end to seeking truth, innovation in theory, and practical experience. Building a strong military is a pioneering endeavor. We must always adapt to new situations, respond to new challenges and solve new problems, make breakthroughs in theory, and courageously explore new ways in practice, to enrich and develop the Party’s philosophy on strengthening the military, so that the truth of Marxist military theory applied in practice will shine brighter in China. 

— To build a strong military, we must always focus on combat readiness, and build an elite military that is ready and able to fight and prevail at all times and under all circumstances when the call comes. In security, we must not forget danger; in peace, we must not forget turbulence. We have a wide range of measures and options to safeguard peace, maintain security and deter war, but the military option will always be the ultimate guarantee. The military is forever a fighting force, its vitality lying in its combat effectiveness. The military should be ready to respond to adversity and crisis, and adopt a worst-case scenario mentality. All should focus their attention on training and preparation for war, so as to ensure that whenever they are needed by the Party and the people, they can respond promptly and readily to any scenario at any time and under any circumstances, and always emerge victorious. The military should implement the Party’s military strategy in the new era. All men and women in uniform should study military affairs, warfare and strategy, in order to understand the laws of modern war and the laws of command and control, and thus reinforce combat readiness. We must reinforce combat readiness through rigorous training in real combat scenarios. What fighting skill is most needed for soldiers in a battle? Get them to practice it. What is their most prominent problem in training? Solve it. The military must strengthen its ability to fulfill diverse military tasks. The Chinese people cherish peace. We will not engage in aggression or expansion. But we are confident that we will defeat any aggressor. We will never allow any person, any organization, or any political party to split any part of the Chinese territory away from the country at any time, in any form. No one should expect us to accept anything that damages our sovereignty, security, or development interests. The military must resolutely safeguard the Party’s leadership and our socialist system, our sovereignty, our security and development interests, and regional and world peace. 

— To build a strong military, we must strengthen its commitment to the Party, and count on reform, science and technology, and the rule of law to upgrade our national defense and modernize our military in all respects. We must put into practice the guiding principles adopted at the Gutian Conference on Military Political Work. Political work is the lifeline of the military, which will play an essential role in fostering a new generation of officers and soldiers equipped with revolutionary spirit, competence, fearlessness, and moral integrity, with men and women in uniform as strong as iron in their belief, faith, discipline and sense of responsibility, so that the nature, purpose and character of the military will remain unchanged. We must drive deeper all-round reform of national defense and the military, overcome prominent institutional, structural and policy barriers that constrain their development, improve and develop a modern military with Chinese characteristics, and accelerate the development of a system of modern armed forces that are capable of winning informatized warfare and can accomplish their missions. We must fully implement the strategy of strengthening the military with science and technology, the essence of which is innovation. We should follow developments in military science and technology throughout the world. Plans and designs should be forward-looking. Research and development should focus on strategic, cutting-edge and disruptive technologies, which will contribute to strengthening the military and increasing combat capabilities. The military should be well aware of the rule of law. The establishment of rule of law in the military with Chinese characteristics has to be accelerated, so as to facilitate a fundamental change in the command and control of the military. 

— To build a strong military, we must promote deeper civil-military integration, and build a national strategy and the capacity to advance this integration. As a national strategy, civil-military integration represents China’s long-term endeavor to coordinate economic development with national defense. It is a strategic decision based on our overall national development and security interests, and a key measure to deal with complex security threats and gain national strategic advantage. We must strengthen the top-level design, balance the needs and requirements, and coordinate stock and increment. At the same time, we must simultaneously promote reform in our structure and mechanisms, integrate systems and factors of production, formulate regulations and standards, so as to form a deeper, highly efficient civil-military integration which embraces all factors and all areas. We should strive to promote the coordinated, balanced and inclusive development of the economy and national defense. National defense is the defense of all the people. The modernization of national defense and the armed forces is a joint undertaking of the Party and the people. All central Party and government departments, all local Party committees and governments should be fully aware of the importance of national defense, create a favorable environment for reform of national defense and the military, play an active role, and give it their strongest support. 

— To build a strong military, we must always remember that serving the people wholeheartedly is our fundamental purpose. We must stand side by side with the people so as to be trusted, supported and exalted by the people. Our victories would not have been possible without the support of the people. The military is deeply rooted in the people; the power of people’s war lies in the great power of the people. All men and women in uniform should keep the people in their hearts, keep the sacred duty of fighting for the people in their minds, and safeguard people’s lives and work in peace. We should carry forward the worthy tradition of close ties with the people, go through thick and thin with them, and always be the defenders of the interests of the people. The military should take an active part in local economic and social development, and always be ready to serve the people with concrete actions and take on responsibilities in the face of urgent, difficult, dangerous and heavy challenges. The unity between the military and the government and between the military and the people is the unique political strength of the Party and the military. All Party members, all men and women in uniform, and all the people of China should carry forward the great tradition of mutual support between the people and the military, and consolidate the rock-solid relations between the military and the government and between the military and the people.

* Part of the speech at the ceremony marking the 90th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army.

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