BEIJING: The Chinese People’s Liberation Army celebrates its 97th founding anniversary on Thursday.
The past few days have seen President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), engage in a string of activities concerning the military.
He convened a Party leadership study session, calling for modernizing border, coastal and air defense. He wrote back to officers and soldiers of an elite army company with its history dating back to the Red Army days, urging them to strengthen training in real combat conditions.
He also made an instruction on veterans’ affairs, emphasizing the importance of making military service an honorable occupation and ensuring that ex-service personnel enjoy respect from the whole society.
On Thursday, Xi’s article on modernizing national defense and the armed forces was published by Qiushi, a flagship Party magazine.
In the article, Xi said developing the people’s army into a world-class military at a faster pace is a “strategic task” for building a modern socialist country in all respects.
He said the military’s political integrity must be enhanced and the military should be strengthened through reform, development of science and technology, as well as talent cultivation.
In the Qiushi article, Xi said “the barrel of the gun” should always follow the Party’s order, echoing Chairman Mao’s most famous dictum — “political power comes from the barrel of a gun.” –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
