Xi urges breakthroughs in military structural reform

President Xi Jinping, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission, speaks at a meeting on reforming the armed forces in Beijing, capital of China.[Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged breakthroughs in reform of the country's armed forces by 2020, vowing to reorganize the current military administration structure and military command system.

Xi, also chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), made the remarks at a meeting on reforming the armed forces which was held from Nov. 24 to 26.

A new structure will be established, in which the CMC takes charge of the overall administration of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Chinese People's Armed Police; battle zone commands focus on combats; and different military services pursue their own construction, Xi said.

While urging the PLA to maintain "correct political direction," Xi outlined "a series of designs and arrangements" to consolidate the basic principle that "the Communist Party of China (CPC) has absolute leadership of the armed forces."

According to Xi, the CMC's "centralized and unified" leadership should be strengthened to ensure that supreme administration and command status belong to the CMC and the CPC Central Committee.

Xi cited measures designed to "integrate the administrative system and the joint battle command system," including a general command center for land forces and enabling the CMC to directly administer and command various military departments.

The current regional military commands will be adjusted and regrouped into new battle zone commands supervised by the CMC, Xi said.

The reform will establish a three-tier "CMC - battle zone commands - troops" command system and an administration system that runs from CMC through various services to the troops.

Xi said, the history of the people's army is one of reform and innovation. "Under the leadership of the Party, the army has gone from small to large, from weak to strong, and from victory to victory," Xi said.

The reason why the military has stayed vigorous is that it has kept pace with times and never ceased reforming itself, Xi added.

"Now, as the country progresses from a large country to a large and powerful one, defense and military development stands at a newed and historic starting line, Xi said.

Taking into consideration the world's larger picture as well as profound and complicated changes in the international landscape, "We must deepen defense and military reforms with greater wisdom and courage," Xi said.

Xi stressed the importance of regulating power within the military, demanding a strict system to regulate and supervise the use of power.

"Decision-making, enforcement and supervision powers should be separated and distributed in a manner that ensures they serve as checks and balances on each other but also run in parallel," Xi said.