CHINA-PLA: MODERNISATION IN NEW ERA UNDER XI JINPING

The state-owned Global Times on November 17, 2017, reproduced a 10,000-character Xinhua report entitled: 'Xi Jinping and His Era: Top Commander Reshaping the Military'. It said as Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), Xi Jinping is tasked with ensuring the world's largest military take a "crucial leap" in the new era "from being simply large to being strong". It quoted him saying in his Work Report to the 19th Congress that "We will make it our mission to see that by 2035, the modernization of our national defense and our forces is basically complete; and that by the mid-21st century our people' s armed forces have been fully transformed into world-class forces." It said to acheive this Xi Jinping has "turned to reviving the army's revolutionary spirit of wartime to seek momentum".  Acknowledging that in "the new era, the army faces much different tasks and missions: from safeguarding the territorial sovereignty of a vast land, sea and airspace, to facilitating national unification; from protecting China's ever-increasing overseas interests, to counter-terrorism and disaster relief", it added that however "for Xi, the top priority remains the same as it was eight decades ago -- putting the entire military under unified and absolute command, and ensuring that the armed forces follow the orders of the Party". The article disclosed that since the 18th Party Congress "more than 100 PLA officers at or above the corps-level, including two former CMC vice chairmen, have been investigated and punished. The number is even greater than that of army generals who died in the battlefield during revolutionary times". It noted too that a new disciplinary commission and a commission for political and legal affairs were set up under the CMC on the orders of Xi Jinping, who had also "ordered the military to relinquish all business activities, a move that touched upon considerable vested interests". Though "some had expressed reservations, but Xi went through with it" saying "The army shall act like an army." It said Xi Jinping had revamped Military organizations and improved the joint combat command mechanism. The percentage of land forces "personnel among the entire PLA was cut to less than half for the first time, and the new Rocket Force and the Strategic Support Force were established. The number of PLA officers was also reduced by 30 percent, and hundreds of generals switched posts". It stressed that "the past five years were witness to the greatest strides the PLA has ever made towards modernization". It noted that Civil-military integration is now a national strategy, and science and innovation have been given greater gravitas and military hardware research had made various breakthroughs. The PLA is now a much leaner force with an optimized structure and more balanced services, one that takes strength less from its size, but more from its fighting capacity and efficacy.It quoted  Xi Jinping as saying: "The only one who can end war is the one capable of war. The only one who can prevent war is the one ready for war. Those who cannot fight only leave themselves vulnerable to aggression." 

The Xinhua article also dwelt on Xi Jinping's military associations and pointed out that his affinity to the PLA dates back to his early days. Indeed, Xi is a PLA "veteran." In 1979, straight after graduating from Tsinghua University, Xi joined the military, serving as secretary to the minister of national defense in the General Office of the CMC.  Three years later when he became deputy Party chief of Zhengding County in Hebei Province, he was still often seen wearing his faded military uniform, sometimes with a matching kit bag. As his work took him across the country in the following decades, Xi also held concurrent posts in the military. Even now, he still has a photo of himself in military uniform on his desk in the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in downtown Beijing. "Ever since I was young, I have learned much about PLA history and have admired the charm and charisma of the army's older generation of leaders," Xi once said. "My earnest attachment to the army dates back to my boyhood." It said he does not just command the PLA from behind a desk and listed how he cared for the welfare of ordinary soldiers.







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