China’s president pointed out that only a strong military is capable of ensuring national security
The Chinese authorities must develop the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into one of the strongest armed forces in the world to protect China’s national interests. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and Chinese President, said this on Thursday at a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
“The PLA must become a world-class armed force with even greater capabilities to be able to reliably defend the country’s sovereignty, security and development interests”, – the head of state said.
“Learning lessons from the past and defending its future, the modernisation of national defence and armed forces must be accelerated. A strong country must have a strong army, only strong armed forces can ensure national security”, – he added.
At the end of 2015, Chinese authorities launched a major reform of the armed forces, which many local and foreign experts called “the most radical” in the PLA’s history. In addition to reducing the size of the armed forces by 300,000 troops to 2 million, major transformations have taken place in the PLA’s organisational and staffing structure and troop management system.
The PRC president said China will learn from positive experiences in other countries, but will not accept “arrogant preaching”.
“We want to learn from the achievements of other cultures and welcome useful suggestions and criticism with good intentions. However, we reject arrogant precepts from those who imagine themselves as mentors”, – he said.
“The Communist Party of China and the Chinese people will confidently pursue the road they have chosen for themselves and firmly take ownership of their destiny for China’s development and movement forward”, – the head of state added.