Hu Jintao was named chairman of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Military Commission at the first plenary session of the 17th CPC Central Committee on Monday.

Hu succeeded Jiang Zemin as chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission in September 2004 after Jiang resigned. Before that Hu had been vice chairman of the commission since 1999.

The first plenum also decided Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou to be vice chairmen of the military commission, and Liang Guanglie, Chen Bingde, Li Jinai, Liao Xilong, Chang Wanquan, Jing Zhiyuan, Wu Shengli and Xu Qiliang as members.

Hu was an alternate member and member of the 12th CPC Central Committee, and has been a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee since 1992.

Hu was also elected on Monday chief of the Communist Party of China for the second term.

Other members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 17th CPC Central Committee are Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, He Guoqiang and Zhou Yongkang.

A native of Jixi County, Anhui Province, Hu was born in December 1942. In 1959, he was enrolled by Qinghua University and graduated from the Hydraulic Engineering Department in 1965. He joined the Party in April 1964.

"We will pursue an independent foreign policy of peace and unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development and a win-win strategy of opening up," Hu said Monday when meeting the press.

Hu said a week ago in a report at the 17th CPC National Congress that China is to modernize its armed forces but stressed that "China follows a national defense policy that is defensive in nature, and it does not engage in arms race or pose a military threat to any other country."

China opposes all forms of hegemonism and power politics and will never seek hegemony or engage in expansion, Hu said.

The armed forces of China have been reduced by 200,000 troops since 2002, Hu said.

(Xinhua News Agency October 22, 2007)