PR84994

BEIJING, July 31, 2020 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/-- --

Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has come a long way since its birth

during the armed uprising in the city of Nanchang on August 1, 1927, when it

had only 20,000 soldiers.

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With two million servicemen, today's PLA pledges to build up new types of

combat forces that have the ability to conduct special operations,

all-dimensional offense and defense, amphibious operations, far seas protection

and strategic projection.

Over the past few years, Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary

of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the

Central Military Commission (CMC), has reshaped the PLA and is leading it to

become a world-class military force.

Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20200731/2873132-1-a

World-class forces

The chairman of the Central Military Commission's thinking on strengthening the

military answers the fundamental questions of what kind of armed forces China

is pursuing and how China should go about building them.

In December 2012, barely a month after he assumed the top post in the Party, Xi

spoke of the need to build a strong military.

"To realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, we must adhere to

combining the building of a prosperous country with that of a strong military," Xi said.

The PLA has reshaped its leadership and management system, optimized its

structure and reformed its military policies and institutions since 2015.

At the V-Day parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War

II in September 2015, China told the world that it would cut the number of its

troops by 300,000 and vowed that it would never seek hegemony.

In 2017, a road map was unveiled at the 19th CPC National Congress that China

will fully transform the PLA into a world-class military force by mid-21st century.

It said that in the new era, the task of building the national defense and the

military has also opened a new chapter. By 2020, the PLA will achieve its

mechanization, make significant strides in informatization and gain substantial

improvement in strategic capabilities. It also set a midterm goal for the

Chinese military, to turn itself into a modernized power by 2035, and a

long-term one, to become a top-tier military in the world by 2050.

In December 2018, Xi described it as a strategic task in socialist

modernization to build a fortified national defense and a strong military

commensurate with China's international standing and its security and

development interests.

While China is on the way to military modernization, its military budget

remains at a relatively low level. According to the latest official figure,

China's 2020 defense budget continues to see a single-digit growth for a fifth

consecutive year, at 6.6 percent, the lowest growth rate in recent years.

The budget stayed at around 1.3 percent of its gross domestic product, well

below the world's average figure of 2.6 percent.

The idea of building world-class armed forces means the army can provide a

strong backing to the protection of China's sovereignty, security and

development interests, the safeguarding of world peace and stability, and the

realization of the national rejuvenation.

Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20200731/2873132-1-b

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," Xi has pointed out.

During his inspection tours of the army, Xi reiterated the need for the armed

forces to improve their combat capability and readiness for war.

In response to his call, military training in real combat conditions across the

armed forces is in full swing.

Since 2012, China's armed forces have carried out extensive mission-oriented

training tailored to the specific needs of different strategic directions and

exercises of all services and arms, including over 80 joint exercises at and

above brigade or division level.

This year, the PLA has also showed its combat capability in responding to

emergencies.

In China's battle against COVID-19, the PLA dispatched over 4,000 medical

personnel to the epicenter of the outbreak, Hubei Province, to work on epidemic

control. Medical teams were formed within two hours of receiving the order, and

they arrived at their destinations within 24 hours, carrying a seven-day stock

of protective materials. On arrival, they started to treat patients right away.

According to the Chinese Defense Ministry, as of July 28, the PLA and the

People's Armed Polices (PAP) had dispatched 725,000 personnel to fight on the

anti-flooding front lines by reinforcing dikes, plugging levee breaches and

evacuating residents.

Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20200731/2873132-1-c

Strict military governance

President Xi has repeatedly stressed the need to govern the military with

strict discipline and in accordance with the law in every respect.

The idea was also written into the country's rule-of-law blueprint during the

Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in 2014.

When inspecting the 13th Group Army in southwest China in January 2016, Xi also

called for strengthening the armed forces through reform, besides enhancing

political awareness and lawfulness to build a strong army.

Since 2012, fighting corruption in the military has also been a focus of the

sweeping anti-graft crackdown, with dozens of military officers investigated

and jailed, including Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong, both former top generals and

vice chairmen of the CMC.

SOURCE: CGTN

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