Marching Ahead:90th Birthday of the PLA

On August 1， 2017， a spectacular rally marking the 90th founding anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army （PLA） was held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Chinese President Xi Jinping， also general secretary of the Communist Party of China（CPC） Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission， addressed the gathering. In his speech， President Xi remarked that the PLA is moving rapidly toward “strong”informationized armed forces. Xi said that the PLA has transformed from a “millet plus rifles”single-service force to one that has fully-fledged services and basically completed mechanization. He also reaffirmed the CPC’s absolute leadership over the PLA. “The Chinese people love peace，”Xi declared. “We will never seek aggression or expansion， but we have the confidence to defeat all invasions. We will never allow any people， organization or political party to split any part of Chinese territory out of the country at any time， in any form.”

The PLA has come a long way since its founding in the wake of an armed uprising of 20，000 soldiers in the city of Nanchang on August 1， 1927. Various commemorations to mark the 90th founding anniversary of the PLA have been held across China recently， including a military parade at the Zhurihe training base in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in late July and an ongoing exhibition at the Beijingbased Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution.

Over the past 90 years， the PLA has been following the absolute leadership of the CPC， dedicated to whole-heartedly serving the people and focused on contributing to the development of the nation. Since the 18th CPC National Congress， the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at its core has embarked on a quest to build stronger armed forces. The PLA has since undergone bold， active and prudent reforms.

Military reform has already led to historic breakthroughs in many sectors. Restructuring of the military forces has given the PLA a fresh look， boosted development of military industries and laid a solid foundation for the modernization of China’s national defense and the PLA.

Today， China is closer than ever to reaching its goal of rejuvenating the Chinese nation and needs a powerful people’s army now more than any other time in history. The PLA must devote all its efforts to building a powerful army， strengthening the army with Chinese characteristics and developing itself into a world-class military.