VII. National Defense and Army Building
Strengthening our national defense is a strategic task in our modernization drive and an important guarantee for safeguarding our national security and unity and building a well-off society in an all-round way. We must uphold the principle of coordinated development of national defense and the economy and push forward the modernization of national defense and the army on the basis of economic growth.
The army must take Mao Zedong's military thinking and Deng Xiaoping's thinking on army building in the new period as the guide to action and fully implement the important thought of Three Represents. It must persist in taking the road of fewer but better troops with Chinese characteristics and become more revolutionary, modernized and regularized in compliance with the general requirements of being qualified politically and competent militarily and having a fine style of work, strict discipline and adequate logistic support and in close connection with the two historic objectives of being capable of winning battles and never degenerating.
The army should give first priority to ideological and political development in all its endeavors and retain the nature, quality and style of work worthy of a people's army. The Party's absolute leadership over the army is the eternal soul of the army. There must be no wavering in upholding the fundamental principle and system that the Party leads the people's army.
The army must implement the military strategic principle of active defense and raise its defense capabilities and combat effectiveness under high-tech conditions. In response to the trend of military changes in the world, it must carry out the strategy of building a strong army through science and technology and improve its qualities. It should attach strategic importance to education and training, carry on intensive science- and technology-related military training and strengthen the building of military academies and schools so as to bring up a large number of high-quality military personnel of a new type. It is necessary to innovate and develop military theories. Efforts should be made to accomplish the historical tasks of mechanization and IT application, thereby bringing about leapfrog development in the modernization of our army.
It is necessary to explore the characteristics and laws for running the army under the new historical conditions and press ahead with reforms in the building of national defense and the army. The formation and structure of the army must be optimized and the related policies and systems should be adjusted and improved. The army must be strict with itself and improve the system of military rules and regulations so as to raise the level of handling its affairs according to law. It is essential to persist in building the army through diligence and thrift and establishing and improving an integrated lo
