Jiang
Zemin, former chairman of the
Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China,
expressed his hope Monday that Chinese military forces would always
follow the Party's orders and well perform its duty of safeguarding
national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Jiang Zemin handed over his post as the military chief of the
Communist Party of China (CPC) to Hu Jintao
Sunday,
"I'm very glad to come here to join you today," said Jiang, 78,
while he and Hu attended together an enlarged meeting of the CPC
Central Military Commission (CMC) held in Beijing on Monday
morning. "As a veteran communist, I would like to express some hope
on all of you here."
"Firstly, I hope the military will always resolutely follow the
Party's instructions and guidance, obey the orders from the Party
and accept the Party's absolute leadership," said Jiang.
"Secondly, I hope the military will always preserve the
political nature of the Red Army, ... to carry on our army's
glorious tradition and fine style of work one generation after
another," Jiang added.
He went on to express the hope that the Chinese military would
try hard to "stand in the front of the global tide of military
development", and that the military would constantly "consolidate
and develop a high level of (internal) solidarity and unity".
"Fifthly, I hope that the military will earnestly fulfill its
sacred mission of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial
integrity," said Jiang. "The realization of the reunification of
the motherland is a major issue to which (the late) Chairman Mao
(Zedong) and Comrade (Deng) Xiaoping had always paid great
attention."
On the resolution of the Taiwan issue, Jiang said, "We
shall try our best with utmost sincerity to realize the peaceful
reunification, but we shall by no means make the commitment to
forsake the use of force. This is a major political
principle."
Jiang pointed out that the military must step up its
preparations for the military struggle. "The better we are prepared
for the military struggle, the more likely we are to gain a
peaceful reunification in the future," he said.
He called on "all comrades of the military" to "bravely
safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity with
resolution and faith", and to "make still greater contribution to
the realization of the complete reunification of the motherland".
????
The 16th CPC Central Committee, at its Fourth Plenum which
concluded here Sunday, accepted Jiang's resignation and approved
Hu, 61, to take over as the new Party military chief.
(Xinhua News Agency September 20, 2004)
