Jiang Urges PLA Modernization

President Jiang Zemin urged China's armed forces to push their modernization to a new stage and enhance their combat readiness and defense capability to a new level under conditions of modern technology, especially high technology.

Jiang, also chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), made the call when attending a meeting of all People's Liberation Army (PLA) deputies to the Ninth National People's Congress, in annual session since Sunday.

The whole army should further recognize the major historic mission it shoulders in the process of achieving socialist modernization, and bring the initiative and creativity of the officers and solders of the PLA into full play in accordance with strategic arrangements made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the CMC, he said. Jiang spoke highly of the accomplishments the army made last year, saying that the PLA and the armed police stood the test of three major political struggles and made new progress in all-round army building last year.

"Now we can declare to the world that by the end of last year, the target to demobilize 500,000 PLA soldiers set at the 15th National Congress of the CPC had been realized, a sign that the army has made a big step towards the goal of building itself into a 'lean, combined and highly-efficient army'".

Major headway has been made in national defence-related science and technology and development of military equipment, with the successful launches of a long-range ground-to-ground missile and the Shenzhou spaceship, he said.

The grand military parade celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of New China exhibited to the world the army's new outlook and great achievements in modernization, Jiang said. "We should continue promoting the great cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics into the 21st century, and by the mid-century, build China into a powerful, democratic and civilized socialist modern country and realize the great revival of the Chinese nation," Jiang said.

In this process, the army shoulders a great historic responsibility, namely, to protect state sovereignty, unity, security, and people's peaceful labor, and to provide a strong guarantee for reform, opening up policy implementation and socialist modernization, Jiang said.

Political polarization and economic globalization are continuing. However, the old, irrational international economic order has not changed fundamentally, with hegemonism and power politics having had new development, Jiang pointed out. "We should have a strong sense of crisis, because we cannot concentrate on economic development without a consolidated national defense and a powerful army," Jiang said, calling on all officers and soldiers of the PLA to incessantly raise the army's deterring and actual combat ability.

The army should fulfill its fundamental obligation to safeguard state sovereignty and security, and meanwhile take an active part in the country's economic development, Jiang said, urging the army to work out an overall program to help and support the implementation of the government-initiated develop-the-west strategy.

Jiang talked about strengthening national defense and furthering military modernization in his speech, attaching special importance to improving the army's defense capabilities through high technology. "There is a lot of work we need to do to accelerate our army's modernization, and the key lies in having a good grasp of important matters that have a bearing on the overall situation, and we should always base the modernization drive on issues of strategic importance," the president said. Jiang stressed the importance of continued reform for the modernization of the armed forces, saying reform is a driving force for modernization as well as a way out. "It's impossible for us to achieve a breakthrough or even any result without a pioneering and reforming spirit," he said, calling for reforms in all aspects including military affairs, political work and logistics.

Saying a full and earnest implementation of all measures constitutes a key to achieving the goal of military modernization, Jiang said, "We should strengthen education for the armed forces to instill in them a strong conviction and a belief in their historic mission. We should pool the vigor, willpower and wisdom of all officers and soldiers for the purpose of achieving modernization for the armed forces."

Jiang urged senior military officers to improve their leadership and fulfill their respective responsibilities. Vice Chairmen of the Central Military Commission Hu Jintao, Zhang Wannian and Chi Haotian and high-ranking military officers including Fu Quanyou and Yu Yongbo attended the meeting.

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