On January 13, 1993, Jiang Zemin, then head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), gave a speech at the enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the CCP explaining the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) military strategy, illuminating the context of the CCP's military development. The speech is valuable because it reveals that the CCP has been increasing and developing its military power for 30 years without interruption. The rapid development of the CCP's military power did not begin with Xi Jinping, but began much earlier. Moreover, 30 years ago, the CCP's primary military target was Taiwan, as is still the case today.
Jiang Zemin (Source: Hk01.com)
Following is the text of Jiang Zemin's speech:[1]
"This enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission (CMC) is a very important one held by the new Central Military Commission after the 14th CPC (Communist Party of China) National Congress. The purpose of this meeting is to study and implement the guiding principles of the Party's 14th National Congress and Comrade Deng Xiaoping's thoughts on building the armed forces in the new period, study the military strategic guidelines we need to define in the new international situation, and plan the work of the armed forces for this year. After the 14th CPC National Congress, the CMC and the general headquarters conducted several studies on the issue of military strategic guidelines. Today, I will speak on behalf of the CMC.
"I. The International Situation
"The world today is in a historical period of great changes. Generally speaking, the current international situation is favorable to China's development.
"First, it is possible to strive for a peaceful international environment and avoid a new world war for a long time to come. This is a very important strategic judgment and a major prerequisite for us to concentrate on economic development. As we all know, the contradiction between war and peace and their mutual transformation depend on the contrast and rise and fall of the two forces. As early as the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, Comrade Deng Xiaoping, with his foresight and prudence as a strategist, creatively applied the Marxist standpoint, viewpoint and method to accurately draw the line between the two forces of war and peace, and scientifically predicted the development trend of the international situation by dialectically examining the contradictory movements between the two forces. He pointed out that hegemonism is the root cause of war in modern times, and put forward the famous argument that war can be postponed if we do our job well, although the danger of war exists. At that time, Comrade Deng Xiaoping made this judgment on the general basis that ‘the growth of the forces for peace in the world exceeds the growth of the forces for war.' At the same time, he also incisively clarified who to rely on, who to unite with and who to oppose in the efforts to prevent war and maintain peace. Now, looking back, Comrade Deng Xiaoping was indeed far-sighted. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the bipolar world, we have a better understanding of Comrade Deng Xiaoping's basic assessment. The world is moving towards multi-polarity. There are more checks and balances in the world and more forces for peace.
"Second, in the process of forming a new world structure, various contradictions are developing in depth, various forces are being regrouped and major strategic relationships are being adjusted and changed. As the law of unbalanced economic and political development of capitalism continues to play its role, the contradictions within and between the Western countries are increasingly exposed and rising, and their difficulties at home and abroad are increasing. This has created many new opportunities for us to strategize and maneuver in the international struggle. As long as we have a good handle on some major strategic relations and make good use of some major contradictions, we will be able to respond flexibly and take appropriate measures to adapt to the development of the international situation and further enhance China's international standing.
"Third, compared with other regions in the world, the situation in the Asia-Pacific region has remained relatively stable. Countries in the region have increasingly closer economic ties and cooperation, and political solutions to existing hot-spot issues have been or are being achieved. The security environment in our country's neighborhood is constantly improving, and our good-neighborly and friendly relations with neighboring countries are at their best since the founding of the People's Republic of China.
"These conditions and factors have provided a favorable external environment for us to concentrate our efforts on developing the national economy. As Comrade Deng Xiaoping pointed out, the international environment is favorable for us, and the domestic conditions are favorable. Now is a good time for us to accelerate development. We must cherish and seize the current favorable opportunity, further emancipate our minds, seek truth from facts, forge ahead in unity and work hard, accelerate reform, opening up and modernization, and strive for new victories in building socialism with Chinese characteristics.
"While looking at the favorable side of the international situation, we should also look at the unfavorable and even severe side. We must not take lightly the turbulent factors in the international situation. Senior cadres of our Party and the army, in particular, should have a clear understanding of this. It must be noted that today's world is far from tranquil, and neither of the two major issues of peace and development that people of all countries have long been concerned about and striving for have been resolved. Comrade Deng Xiaoping pointed out, ‘I hoped the cold war would end, but now I feel disappointed. It could be that one cold war has ended and two other cold wars have started.' The development of the international situation has proved that Comrade Deng Xiaoping's prediction is entirely correct. At present, the world socialism is at a low ebb, and the international hostile forces have stepped up infiltration and subversive activities to socialist countries. In this regard, we must remain vigilant and never take it lightly. Hegemonism and power politics have become major obstacles to world peace and development. Some ethnic, religious and territorial disputes, which had been covered up by the US-Soviet confrontation, have become increasingly prominent, leading to bloody conflicts and local wars, and are threatening to spread. The international military struggle is also very complicated. Although some progress has been made in arms control and disarmament negotiations, the arms race is shifting to the field of high and new technologies, which will exert an inestimable impact on the international and Asia-Pacific military struggle situation.
"Although a new world war or an all-out war against our country will not break out for a long time, the factors leading to local wars, armed conflicts and local domestic social unrest still exist. Although the competition for comprehensive national strength based on economic and technological strength has become the dominant aspect of international struggle, military means still play an important role. Although progress has been made in the great cause of national reunification, some new and complicated factors have emerged. In such an ever-changing and complex international environment, we must be good at observing and thinking about problems comprehensively rather than unilaterally, developmentally rather than statically, and interrelatedly rather than in isolation, so as to grasp the essence of things and the principal contradictions and main aspects of contradictions, and realistically make accurate judgments on the nature, degree and manner of the threats we may face in a complex situation.
"In short, we must fully assess the favorable factors, seize this rare opportunity, strengthen our diplomatic work and exchanges, expand our country's leeway in the international community, strengthen our initiative in handling international affairs, and create better external conditions for domestic development so as to accelerate reform, opening up and modernization and concentrate on boosting the national economy, constantly improve the comprehensive national strength of our country. This is fundamental to ensuring our country's enduring peace and stability and consolidating and developing the cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics.
"At the same time, we should clearly face up to the unfavorable factors we are facing, and strive to turn unfavorable factors into favorable ones by strengthening research work, careful planning, correct decision-making and solid work, so as to be well prepared. We can't be blindly optimistic, be careless and relax our necessary vigilance just because there are many things in our favor in the international situation; nor can we take the international situation too seriously, blindly nervous, just because there are still things that are not good for us. It would seem that the enemy is at our door and everything is at a loss, or even weaken our determination to concentrate on economic development. These are obviously incorrect and do not accord with objective reality. It is fair to say that the current international situation is mainly favorable to us. As long as we adhere to what Comrade Deng Xiaoping said, ‘Observe calmly, keep a cool head, never claim leadership and make a difference,' seize the opportunities that the international situation offers for our country's economic development and concentrate wholeheartedly on handling domestic affairs well, we will be able to calmly cope with various complicated situations and remain invincible.
"From a general view of our country's security environment, it can be seen that most of the political and economic problems, external military threats, obstacles to national reunification and domestic instability are directly or indirectly related to hegemonism and power politics, and the shadow of hegemonism and power politics can be seen in most cases. In this regard, we must be strategically forward-looking. We must resolutely fight against acts that undermine our national interests and state sovereignty. Of course, the method of struggle should be flexible.
"II. On The Military Strategic Guidelines
"For a country or a nation to survive and develop and gain a firm foothold in the fiercely competitive international environment, it is indispensable to have correct military strategic guidelines. In the current complex and changeable international situation, we must establish correct military strategic guidelines in order to grasp the strategic initiative.
"Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the PLA has always pursued a military strategy of active defense. What kind of military strategy should be adopted under the new historical conditions? We believe that we should continue to adhere to the military strategic guidelines of active defense. At present, to continue to implement the military strategic guidelines of active defense is an inheritance of our military tradition, in line with our national conditions and military conditions, and is conducive to maintaining the initiative politically and diplomatically. At the same time, with the development and changes of the situation, the military strategic guidelines of active defense should be timely endowed with new content.
"In light of the developments and changes in the current international situation and the situation of military struggle, as well as China's national and military conditions, the CMC believes that for a period of time to come, our military strategy of active defense should fully embody the following main principles.
"First, we must adhere to Mao Zedong's military thought and Comrade Deng Xiaoping's thoughts on building the armed forces in the new period as our fundamental guidance. This is the theoretical and ideological basis for implementing the military strategic guidelines of active defense under the new situation. Mao Zedong's military thought is the product of the combination of Marxist military theory and the practice of China's revolutionary military struggle, and it is also a system of military science which combines ancient and modern military thoughts both at home and abroad. The glorious history of our army tells us that Mao Zedong's military thought is the foundation and magic weapon of our army. Comrade Deng Xiaoping is the chief architect of China's socialist reform, opening up and modernization drive, as well as the chief architect of China's military construction and reform in the new era.
"While designing the reform and opening up of the whole country and the economic construction, he also planned the blueprint of the military construction in the new period. Since the 1970s, with a keen strategic vision, realistic scientific attitude and great boldness, he has made a series of scientific discussions on the problems of war and peace in today's world, the strategic policy of active defense, and the people's war under modern conditions by creatively applying the Marxist standpoint, viewpoint and method. He systematically put forward the objectives, tasks and principles of the army construction in the new period and answered a series of important questions concerning the construction of a modernized and regularized revolutionary army with Chinese characteristics. In response to the changes in the international situation in recent years, Comrade Deng Xiaoping put forward the important principles of ‘observing calmly, keeping a cool head, never claiming leadership and making a difference,' which provided the basis for our Party and the state to formulate new policies and strategies, and pointed out the direction for strengthening the construction of the armed forces and improving the art of military struggle guidance.
"As an important part of the theory of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, Comrade Deng Xiaoping's thoughts on military construction in the new period creatively inherited and developed Mao Zedong's military thought, which not only revealed the basic laws of military construction and military struggle in the new period, but also provided us with the standpoint, viewpoint and method of correctly understanding and solving the problems of army building and military struggle in the new period. This is the fundamental reason why the PLA has made great achievements in safeguarding our national security and strengthening its revolutionary, modernized and regularized construction over the past decade. Practice has proved that adhering to the guidance of Comrade Deng Xiaoping's thoughts on military building in the new period is an important guarantee for our military building to develop continuously in the right direction and win new and greater victories.
"Under the new circumstances, to continue to implement the military strategic guidelines of active defense, the most fundamental thing is to follow the guidance of Comrade Deng Xiaoping's thoughts on building the armed forces in the new period, build up the armed forces in earnest, ensure that our armed forces will always follow the road of building a modernized and regularized revolutionary force with Chinese characteristics, and ensure that our armed forces will constantly advance from victory to victory in complicated struggles. All army comrades, especially senior cadres, should study hard and have a thorough understanding of Comrade Deng Xiaoping's strategic thoughts and theoretical views and earnestly apply them in the construction of the armed forces and in military struggle. At the same time, we should strive to learn from Comrade Deng Xiaoping's scientific attitude and creative spirit in studying and solving the problems of army construction and military struggle by applying Marxist position, viewpoint and method, emancipate the mind, seek truth from facts, timely and properly deal with new problems in army construction and military struggle, constantly improve the combat effectiveness of our armed forces, and strive to build our army into a modern and regularized revolutionary force that is qualified politically and competent militarily and that have a fine style of work, strict discipline and adequate logistic support.
"Second, our military strategy must be subordinate to and serve the national development strategy. The military strategic guidelines have always served to achieve national strategic objectives. Since the third Plenary Session of the 11th CCP Central Committee, under the guidance of Comrade Deng Xiaoping, our Party has formulated the basic line of ‘One Central Task and Two Basic Points' and formulated the theory of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. The 14th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party comprehensively summarized the basic experience of the 14 years of reform and opening up and determined the strategic plan for China's development in the coming period.
"We should initially establish a socialist market economy system in the 1990s to achieve the second development goal of a well-off life for the whole nation. By the centenary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, a more mature and well-established system will have been formed in all respects; By the centenary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in the middle of next century, the third stage of development goals will be achieved and socialist modernization will be basically realized. This is the overall situation that concerns the fundamental interests of the country and the nation. The whole Party, the army and the whole country must obey and serve this overall situation and strive to achieve the grand goal of the country. Under the new circumstances, the reason why we adopt the military strategic guidelines of active defense is that, in the complex and volatile international environment, we must proceed from the overall interests of the country, carefully guide the building of our armed forces and military struggle, and coordinate closely with political and diplomatic affairs. We should give full play to the important role of the armed forces in safeguarding national security, safeguarding national unity and social stability, and supporting socialist modernization, provide a strong security guarantee for reform, opening up and economic development, and make armed forces building and military struggle better serve the country's strategic objectives.
"Third, we must place the basis for future military preparations on winning local war under modern technology conditions, especially high-tech conditions. Since the 1980s, the worldwide high-tech competition has become increasingly fierce. Now, all countries are adjusting their development strategies, taking the development of modern technology, especially high technology, as a key measure to enhance comprehensive national strength and national defense strength, trying to seize the strategic initiative. The facts of the Gulf War show that with the application of high technology in the military field, the strike accuracy and combat intensity of weapons have been unprecedentedly improved, and the characteristics of suddenness, three-dimensionality, mobility, rapidity, and deep strike are very prominent, and the party with high-tech advantages obviously has more battlefield initiative. In today's world, if a country does not try to enhance its national defense strength, improve the quality of its armed forces and the level of weapons and equipment along with its economic and social development, and its combat capability under modern technology conditions, especially high-tech conditions, is not strong, once a war breaks out, it tends to fall into a situation to be passively beaten, and its national interests, national dignity, and international prestige will be greatly damaged. Because of this, many countries in the world are now adjusting their military strategies to meet the needs of development of international situation and military struggles.
"With the development of the world's high-tech arms race, in the event of a local war in the future, it is likely to be a high-tech confrontation at the very beginning. We cannot underestimate this possibility, let alone neglect it. Especially on the Taiwan issue, if a major incident of 'Taiwan independence' occurs, then in order to safeguard the unification of the motherland and defend national sovereignty, we will have to take decisive military measures against 'Taiwan independence.' Of course, if we handle it well, it is possible to prevent and avoid such a confrontation. The law of military struggle is just like this, when you are prepared, it will not dare to take the move. The situation in the world can change suddenly, and it has always the case ever since ancient times. In today's volatile and extremely restless world, it is especially intensive, and any complicated situation may arise. Our predictions and preparations would rather be a little more sophisticated, rather than a few more solutions, just in case something unexpected happens. For the long-term interests of the nation, we should continue to do more diplomatic work, and keep on pursuing mutually beneficial cooperation in economy, while militarily we should be prepared for danger in times of safety, take precautions before it happens, and get gradually prepared for any unexpected situations. Historical experience has proven that the more fully prepared the military is, the more proactive it is strategically and the more secured safety there is. While fully aware of the favorable situation, we also see the grim side of the situation. On the premise of adhering to economic construction as the center, we should make necessary preparations for possible complex situations, and this is conducive to fundamentally safeguarding the country's reform and opening up and economic construction to proceed smoothly.
"To prepare to win a local war under the conditions of modern technology, especially high technology, is precisely to prevent and avoid such a war as much as possible, and it is also an essential measure to ensure that we can win such a war once it occurs. In terms of strategic guidance, we have already shifted from preparing for an early, large, and nuclear war to focusing on preparing for local wars. Now, according to the development and changes of the international situation, we must focus on preparing for local wars under the conditions of modern technology, especially high technology. This is the further development and improvement of the strategic guiding principle of our armed forces.
"It is a very demanding job to get prepared to win local wars under modern technology, especially high-tech conditions. At present, we still have many challenges to meet this requirement, including financial difficulties and technical difficulties. However, the development of the actual situation forces us to attach great importance to this issue. We should take a long-term view and make up our minds to work hard in this direction. Of course, we do not intend to achieve this goal in one day. Instead, we make winning local wars under the conditions of modern technology, especially high technology, a long-term goal of military struggle preparation. On the premise of going along with the big picture of national economic construction and considering the national strength, we will gradually strengthen the construction with a focus. In particular, the first step is to better understand, study, research, and learn the application of high technology in military abroad. We will try with a long period of efforts to make our combat doctrine, national defense technology, weapons and equipment, system and establishment, education and training, political work and logistics support to adapt to the future combat needs of our armed forces under the conditions of modern technology, especially high technology, and to create more favorable conditions for us to maintain our strategic initiative of national security and development in the future.,
"There is no doubt that when we are preparing to win local wars under the conditions of modern technology, especially high technology, we must also fully assess our actual economic strength and comprehensive national strength. In a short period of time, it is hard for us to catch up with the level of modern military technology and equipment of Western developed countries. We must continue to inspire the morale of the vast number of cadres and soldiers of our armed forces, and constantly improve their ideological, political, discipline, and military qualities. Even if the weapons are not stronger than others, we must give full play to our advantages in spirit and momentum. What we are preparing to fight is an anti-aggression war to defend our national sovereignty and people's safety, and we have the conditions of the right time, the right location, the unified people, and the justice of the war. Plus we have a whole set of strategies and tactics for a people's war under modern conditions. If we make comprehensive application of these advantages, we can make up for the lack of weapons and equipment and defeat any strong invasion enemy. Even in the future, with the development of our country's economy and the enhancement of our national strength, the gap between our military technology and equipment and the advanced level narrows, we will still insist on fighting a people's war and carrying forward a series of traditional advantages of our armed forces, and insist on applying the views of Marxist historical materialism and correctly handles the dialectical unity relationship between the human factor and the weapon factor. In this way, our armed forces can cope with all kinds of complex military struggles and remain invincible.
"Fourth, we must implement flexible and correct strategic guidance. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, we have put forward many good strategic guiding principles when we made decisions over our military strategic guidelines. For example, we stick to the strategy of attacking only after being attacked, people's war, to defeat the enemy based on existing equipment, and to fight based on complex and difficult situations, and so on. These strategic guiding principles still have important guiding significance today and we must continue to adhere to them.
"In accordance with Comrade Deng Xiaoping's strategic thinking and strategies of struggle, in order to ensure that the country concentrates its efforts on improving the national economy, we must continue to pursue an independent and peaceful foreign policy, actively develop state relations with other countries in the world, and try to create a favorable international environment. We must strictly adhere to our self-defense stance in the military field and not to infringe on the sovereignty of other countries, and not to pick a fight. We must fight rationally, beneficially, and in a balanced way to deal with the actions that infringe upon our country's sovereignty, rights, and interests. In peacetime, the armed forces should take the containment of war outbreaks as a very important function, actively cooperate closely with political, diplomatic and economic struggles, trying to improve our country's strategic environment, reducing insecurity and instability, and trying to contain the outbreak of local wars and armed conflicts, so that the national economic construction can avoid the impact of war. As long as our country can accelerate its development in a relatively safe and stable environment for ten years or several decades, our economic strength, national defense strength, and comprehensive national strength will be greatly enhanced, our country's security will be more assured, and our country's international status will be more consolidated and enhanced, and the socialist cause with Chinese characteristics will be full of more vigor and vitality.
"In the process of the world developing towards multi-polarity, the struggles between various forces and contradictions in the world are quite fierce and complex. A very important issue in our strategic guidance is to make good use of contradictions, be flexible and take the initiative. In the struggle against hegemonism and power politics, we not only adhere to principles, but also remain flexible, and we use all contradictions that are possible to use to expand our room for maneuver. Regarding neighboring countries, we must follow the policy of stabilizing the neighboring countries, making more efforts, eliminating doubts, and promoting good neighborhoods and friendship. We should properly handle foreign affairs and try to gradually resolve certain disputes through peaceful consultation. As for the issues that cannot get resolved for the time being, on the premise of stabilizing the status quo, we should actively create conditions to gradually solve the issue without rushing it. At present and in the future, the focus of our military struggle is to prevent major ‘Taiwan independence' incidents in Taiwan and prevent it from jeopardizing our national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The armed forces must actively support the Party and government in enhancing their attractiveness and influence on Taiwan in all aspects, including politics, economy, culture, science and technology, play a military deterrent role, curb the ‘Taiwan independence' separatist forces, and try to promote peaceful reunification. At the same time, the armed forces should seriously prepare for any emergency.
"In dealing with local wars under the conditions of modern technology, especially under high-tech conditions, we do have difficulties and shortcomings at this stage, but we also have our own advantages. Our real advantage is still the people's war. China's favorable geographical conditions, profound potential in war, considerable standing army, limited nuclear counterattack power, and rich experience in people's war are all the foundation on which we deter war and defeat the enemy. They are also important factors that have prevented any powerful enemy from invading China over the years. This advantage is amazing and we must never lose it at any time.
"At the same time, it must also be realized that local wars under modern conditions differ greatly from wars of the past. If the event of a conflict or war, the enemy may first use precision-guided weapons and long-range combat aircraft to conduct air strikes, as well as carry out relatively independent naval and air battles. Under these circumstances, we must still persist in the implementation of people's war, and we must not waver in the slightest, for this is the fundamental magic weapon for victory over the enemy which has been repeatedly tested in practice.
"However, how to give full play to the traditional advantages of people's war in combination with the concrete reality of modern war is not a simple problem by any means, and it is worthy of our in-depth study. As early as 1978, Comrade Deng Xiaoping stressed the need to carry on Mao Zedong's military ideology, to study people's war under modern conditions, and develop China's military science. Looking at it now, this problem appears to be even more important and urgent.
"We must actively develop the ideas of the people's war in accordance with these new conditions. From the various aspects of combat thought, combat command, power combination, combat form, combat method, weapons and equipment, personnel quality, geographical environment, and the potential of war, we must diligently and comprehensively seek a way to defeat the enemy based on the existing equipment under the conditions of modern technology. Only in this way can we play to our strengths and circumvent our weaknesses, defeat the enemy, and seize victory.
"From now on, in order to meet the operational needs of modern technology, especially high tech conditions, we must actively create conditions and strive to improve the weapons and equipment of the military. However, for a relatively long period of time, from a perspective of the situation as a whole, we still need to be fully prepared to use inferior equipment to defeat an enemy with superior equipment. We must have the confidence and determination to do so. To this end, we must focus our efforts on strengthening our strategic judgment and forecasts, as well as strive to anticipate the enemy's moves and predicting changes in advance.
"These are not the only thoughts and principles that should be grasped in strategic guidance. In the face of the new international situation and military struggle, there are many more issues that need to be studied in depth.
"To sum up, the basic elements of the military strategic guidelines of active defense for a period of time to come are as follows: guided by the military thought of Mao Zedong and Comrade Deng Xiaoping's thoughts on military construction in the new era, obey and serve the national development strategy, based on winning a possible local war under the conditions of modern technology, especially high technology; accelerate the construction of our army's quality, strive to improve our army's emergency combat capabilities, make full use of its strengths and downplay its weaknesses, respond flexibly, deter wars, win wars, defend China's national territorial sovereignty and marine rights and interests, maintain the unity of the motherland as well as social stability, and provide strong security guarantees for the drive for reform, opening up, and modernization.
"The guideline clarifies the fundamental guiding ideology that we must adhere to in building up our army and in military struggle. It clarifies the relationship between our military strategic guidelines and the national development strategy; it confirms the strategic objectives and tasks of our army; it sets the basis for our army's construction and preparation for military struggle; and it puts forward the basic ideas of strategic guidance that must be grasped.
"III. On The Building Of The Armed Forces And The Preparation For Military Struggle
"In accordance with the military strategy guidelines of active defense, we will be progressively prepared to win local wars under modern, especially high-tech conditions. The key is to fully implement Comrade Deng Xiaoping's thoughts on building the armed forces in the new era, carry forward the fine traditions of the People's Liberation Army, maintain the true character of the old Red Army, vigorously strengthen the overall construction of the army, constantly improve its combat effectiveness, and strive to bring the revolutionary, modern, and regularized army to a new stage.
"First, the development of national defense science and technology and the construction of military equipment must be made a high priority. We are confident and capable of defeating any enemy. However, if the weapons and equipment are outdated, especially under high-tech conditions, the confrontation capability is not strong. It will be more difficult to seize the initiative on the battlefield, and it will be more costly to win the victory. Therefore, we must respect science and value the role of weapons. Comrade Deng Xiaoping recently directed that the military should improve their weaponry and equipment, and increase their combat effectiveness. According to this instruction of Comrade Deng Xiaoping, we must vigorously develop national defense scientific research and equipment development in order to strengthen our army's material basis for dealing with local wars under modern technology, especially high-tech conditions, so that our army can have several advanced and top-of-the-line systems as soon as possible, thus effectively improving our army's deterrence capability and actual combat capability. At the same time, we must pay attention to improving the existing weapons and equipment, and improve the combat effectiveness and supporting level of the existing equipment.
"Second, we must attach great importance to the improvement of the quality of all officers and soldiers. Comrade Deng Xiaoping attached great importance to this issue. He repeatedly emphasized that training is the key to improving the quality of troops; that education and training should be placed in a strategic position; and that it should be addressed as an institutional issue in order to make this policy concrete. This comment is the result of Comrade Deng Xiaoping's decades of experience in building and managing the army, and it profoundly reveals the laws of building the military in peacetime. We must fully implement this important thought of Comrade Deng Xiaoping. Leading comrades and leading organs at all levels must focus their energy on education and training, and make unremitting efforts to improve the quality of education and training. They must also strive to cultivate a large number of people with high political consciousness, high morale, mastery of modern military technology, an understanding of modern times, and excellent talents in the art of war command.
"We must see that this is the fundamental plan to realize the modernization of our army and to win future wars. Importantly, it signifies taking the path of elite soldiers with Chinese characteristics, as well as enhancing the quality of our army. Presently and in the future, we must focus on winning local wars with modern technology, especially high-tech ones, and strengthen army training, academic teaching, and military scientific research. It is necessary to proceed from actual combat needs, further improve training of the troops, and effectively raise the tactical and technical level of the troops under modern, especially high-tech, conditions. We must focus on the training of commanders at all levels and train them to become the backbone of the army who are proficient in the art of commanding modern warfare. It is necessary to continue to strengthen and improve the construction of colleges and universities, improve teaching content and methods, and cultivate a large number of qualified talents for the modernization of our army and the development of national defense science and technology. Focusing on the characteristics of local wars under modern technology, especially high-tech conditions, we must conduct in-depth research and actively explore the laws of people's war under modern conditions, and strive to find ways to use inferior equipment to defeat an enemy with superior equipment under modern conditions. In addition, we must develop military theory with Chinese characteristics. We firmly believe that with a well-trained and elite army, a large number of commanders with high command skills, a set of flexible strategies and tactics, and constant improvement in military technology and equipment, we will be invincible.
"Third, we must further highlight the focus of military construction. We must be determined to focus on building up key units and equip them with strong combat capabilities. We must meet the requirements of people's war under modern conditions and attach importance to and strengthen the building of reserve forces for national defense. The headquarters and relevant departments of state organs should further improve the national defense mobilization mechanism in the light of the country's institutional reform, and focus on solving the problem of rapid mobilization in future local wars.
"Fourth, we must earnestly strengthen and improve the ideological and political work of the armed forces. Ideological and political work is a unique advantage of our army. Ideological and political work is indispensable to the building of the armed forces in peacetime and the winning of local wars with modern technology, especially under high-tech conditions. We must strengthen the building of party organizations and leading bodies at all levels of the armed forces to ensure the absolute leadership of the Party over the armed forces and a high degree of stability, centralization, and unity of the armed forces. We should constantly educate our troops on their fundamental functions and glorious traditions, carry forward their fine traditions, and maintain the true colors of the old Red Army. It is necessary to vigorously carry out education in modern Chinese history as well as modern world history and education on the situation and combat readiness, so that the majority of cadres and soldiers can clearly understand the situation, take history as a mirror, be prepared for danger in times of peace, and firmly establish patriotism and national defense concepts. We must closely focus on education and training, do our regular ideological and political work well, inspire enthusiasm in training soldiers, and cultivate a fighting style that is brave, tenacious, and not afraid of sacrifice. We must ensure that the troops can maintain a high fighting spirit under any difficulty or difficult conditions, and successfully complete the tasks assigned by the Party and the people.
"Fifth, we must further strengthen the logistical construction of the army. The strong combat effectiveness of the army cannot be separated from powerful logistics support. Combat under modern technical conditions requires high consumption of resources, complex technical support, high need for timeliness, and greater reliance on logistics and technical support. We must fully understand the position and role of logistics support and constantly strengthen it. When the conflict between supply and demand is difficult to alleviate temporarily, we must give priority to ensuring key areas. On the basis of ensuring continuous improvement of the life of the troops, we should concentrate our financial and material resources and give priority to equipment construction, key troops, and important directions. It is necessary to strengthen the construction of logistics and technical support forces according to the operational needs of modern technology, especially high-tech conditions, and strive to form a comprehensive support and support capability, especially to improve emergency comprehensive support capabilities. To meet the requirements of developing a socialist market economy, we should improve the methods for raising and supplying materials, and increase the efficiency of the use of funds and materials. To meet the requirements of developing a socialist market economy, we should improve the methods for raising and supplying materials and increase the efficiency of using funds and materials. We will step up logistics mobilization and gradually form a logistics support system compatible with the military and the civilian sectors.
"From now until the middle of the next century, it will be a very important and precious period for the prosperity of the motherland, the prosperity of the socialist cause, and the development of the modernization of the army. All comrades in the army, especially senior cadres, must fully understand the sacred and arduous mission they shoulder. In accordance with Comrade Deng Xiaoping's thoughts on the construction of the army in the new era, we must, under the leadership of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the Central Military Commission, lead the commanders and combatants of the entire army in working hard to build the armed forces into a powerful, modernized and regularized revolutionary force with unity, inspiration and determination."
[1] Reformdata.org/1993/0113/5616.shtml, January 13, 1993.
