A rally was held Tuesday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered an important speech at the gathering.
Reviewing the PLA’s glorious history under the leadership of the CPC, Xi said 90 years ago, the August 1 Nanchang Uprising (1927) marked the beginning of the founding of the PLA and the beginning of the CPC’s independent leadership in the revolutionary war.
During the past 90 years, the PLA has closely followed the absolute leadership of the CPC and served the people wholeheartedly, performing outstanding meritorious deeds for the nation.
The PLA has transformed from a “millet plus rifles” single-service force to one that has fully-fledged services and has basically completed mechanization. It is moving rapidly toward strong informationized armed forces.
Xi paid homage to late revolutionaries who founded the PLA and the martyrs who died over the PLA’s 90 years of history.
He mentioned the names of founders of the people’s army — Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping — and other revolutionaries.
He said that their great contributions will be marked in the Chinese people’s history forever.
Xi said the PLA must be bold in reform and adept in innovation while staying away from rigidity and stagnation at any time and under any circumstances.
Over the past 90 years, the PLA has formed a set of principles on military building and management, developed strategies and tactics of people’s warfare, and fostered special glorious traditions and fine conduct under the leadership of the CPC, which were hailed by Xi as the “magic weapon” for the PLA to claim one victory after another.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress in late 2012, the Party has put forward the goal of building a strong military in the new situation, pledging to build the military into one that follows the Party, fights to win and forges exemplary conduct, Xi said.
Xi reaffirmed the CPC’s absolute leadership over the PLA as a must for building a strong military.
He also noted efforts made in implementing new development concepts, focusing on real combat capability and promoting innovation, efficiency and military-civilian integration, which all have improved quality and effectiveness in military building.
Xi said China loves peace, but will never compromise on its sovereignty, security or development interests.
“The Chinese people love peace. We will never engage in aggression or expansion, but we are confident of defeating all invasions. We will never allow any people, organization or political party to split any part of the Chinese territory from the country at any time, in any form,” Xi said.
“No one should expect us to swallow bitter fruit that is harmful to our sovereignty, security or development interests,” he said.
The people’s army should firmly safeguard the CPC’s leadership and the socialist system, protect national sovereignty, security and development interests as well as regional and world peace, he said.
Xi said the PLA has been undertaking a great cause and has arduous tasks, with a bright prospect of development. He called on the Party, the army and the people to unite and move forward, making new contribution to building a strong nation and strong military.
