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Time for slim, strong armed forces: Hu

BEIJING: Thousands of servicemen from China’s land, navy and air force wore their new uniforms on Wednesday at a grand rally marking the People’s Liberation Army’s 80th anniversary at which President Hu Jintao stressed the importance of army loyalty to the Communist Party of China (CPC).

“To follow the CPC’s command is the overriding political requirement that the party and Chinese people have placed on the PLA and is the unshakable and fundamental principle for the PLA,” said Mr. Hu, also general secretary of CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), in his keynote speech.

On August 1, 1927, the CPC-led armed forces held an uprising in Nanchang, now capital of east China’s Jiangxi Province, which is regarded as the founding day for the PLA.

The PLA has made great contributions to national independence, prosperity and strength, and the well-being of the people, under the leadership of three generations of the party’s collective leadership with Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin at its core, and under the leadership of the collective leadership of the party formed at the party’s 16th National Congress, said Mr. Hu.

The PLA currently has 2.3 million members.He said China’s defence budget would gradually be increased as its national economy grew.

The top legislature approved in March a defence budget for the 2007 fiscal year of $44.94-billions, an annual increase of 17.8 per cent.

Mr. Hu said, the modernisation of national defence and armed forces “is the historical mission of the PLA and the common cause of the Chinese people of all ethnic groups.”

The President stressed that, while adhering to the defensive nature of the country’s military buildup, China must build a “slim but strong” armed forces by striking a sound balance among speed, quality and efficiency in the modernisation drive of the country’s 2.3 million-member troops.

To celebrate the 80th anniversary and another sign of the modernisation drive, the PLA launched the biggest ever uniform change in its history.

Dubbed “07 Style”, the ceremonial uniforms for the first time adopt a chest insignia, a mainstay of most western military uniforms, to reveal wearers’ rank and length of service.

Berets have been introduced as standard-issue summer headgear, reminiscent of the NATO look, while Navy rank badges move down from the shoulders to the sleeves in line with international practice. — Xinhua

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