Chinese President Hu Jintao
on Saturday called on the Chinese army to enhance national defense
and step up army building to safeguard national sovereignty,
unification, territorial integrity and security.
"We should strive to improve the capability of the armed forces
to deal with crisis, maintain peace, contain wars and win victory
in possible wars," said Hu when he joined in the panel discussion
of the delegation of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to the Fourth
Session of the Tenth National People's Congress (NPC) in
Beijing Saturday afternoon.
Hu is also general secretary of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China and chairman of the Central Military
Commission.
After hearing the PLA deputies' views, Hu said the next five
years are crucial to China's drive for building a comparatively
prosperous society in an all-round way. It is also "an important
period" for the modernization of national defense and army
building, he said.
"We must give top priority to defending national sovereignty and
security, and get ready for military struggles," said the
president.
"We must follow the scientific concept on sustainable
development to strengthen national defense and army building," Hu
stressed.
Hu also urged efforts to promote development in the fields of
economy, science and technology, education and personnel training
for both military and civilian purposes, and earn rich resources
and strong support from the country's economic and social
development for national defense and army building.
The president called for acceleration of coordinated development
of military and political work, logistics and equipment in line
with the principle of revolutionization, modernization, and
regularization.
Science and technology is a productive force of primary
importance, and is also a powerful driving force pushing forward
the national defense and army building, Hu stressed.
To hit the goal of building an innovation-oriented country,
efforts should be intensified to equip the army with information
technology, improve the combat readiness based on technological
innovation, and upgrade the army's organizational and
administrative mechanisms.
The president underlined the people's role in enhancing national
defense capacity, calling for a reinforced unity between the army
and the people and the establishment of a rapid and effective
mobilizing mechanism for national defense.
Hu, together with other leaders of the Central Military
Commission, had a meeting with some PLA deputies from technological
and grassroots units.
(Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2006)
