Hu Jintao’s Thoughts on National Defense and Army Building

Hu Jintao put forward a series of closely linked and interlinked new ideas, new viewpoints, and new judgments by applying the Marxist standpoints and methods implied in the scientific development concept, and thinking and exploring such major questions as what kind of mission the army should fulfill, how to fulfill the mission, what kind of development to achieve, how to develop, what kind of battle to fight in the future, and how to fight a battle under the new historical conditions, which are the inheritance and development of Mao Zedong’s military thoughts, Deng Xiaoping's thoughts on army building in the new period, Jiang Zemin’s thoughts on national defense and army building. Hu Jintao’s thoughts on national defense and army building closely follow the developments and changes of the global, national and military conditions, focus on solving major practical problems in army building and preparations for military struggles, insist on the principles of emancipating the mind, seeking truth from facts, advancing with the times, seeking truth and being pragmatic, and profoundly clarify the strategic position, mission tasks, guidelines, strategic tasks, powerful motivation, fundamental guarantees, etc., of national defense and army building under new historical conditions. These thoughts on national defense and army building are composed of a series of closely connected and interlinked new ideas, new viewpoints, and new judgments.

Including: The viewpoints on the increasing comprehensiveness, complexity and variability of China ’s security issues; the viewpoints on building a strong national defense and a strong army commensurate with China’s international status, and compatible with national security and development interests; the viewpoints on achieving the integration of building a rich country and a strong army in the process of building a well-off society in an all-round way; the viewpoints on fully fulfilling the historical mission of the army in the new stage of the new century; the viewpoints on the national defense and army building with promoting scientific development as the theme, and accelerating the transformation of mode of increasing combat effectiveness as the mainline; the viewpoints on taking “people-oriented” as an important concept of building and governing the army; the viewpoints on strengthening the ideological and political building of the army around the topic of the times of “Three Guarantees”; the viewpoints on vigorously cultivating the core values of contemporary revolutionary soldiers who “are loyal to the Party, love the people, serve the country, dedicate to the mission, and advocate honors”; the viewpoints on vigorously developing advanced military culture; the viewpoints on comprehensively improving the ability to complete diversified military missions with the ability to win local wars under the informationization as the core; the viewpoints on expanding and deepening the preparations for military struggles; the viewpoints on building a modern logistics in an all-round way; the viewpoints on realizing the independent development, leapfrog development, and sustainable development of our army’s weapons and equipment; the viewpoints on cultivating a large number of high-quality new-type military talents; the viewpoints on taking governing the army in accordance with the law and with strict discipline as a global, basic and long-term work; the viewpoints on advancing the modernization of the army’s organizational form; the viewpoints on improving the scientific level of Party building in the army; and the viewpoints on enhancing the overall strength of the people's war under the conditions of informationization.

Hu Jintao’s thoughts on national defense and army building mainly answered the questions of how to advance the scientific development of national defense and army building and fully fulfill the historical mission of the army in the new stage of the new century under the historical conditions of major developments, major changes and adjustments in the world, and China’s building of a well-off society in an all-around way, providing a theoretical basis for national defense and army building. It raises our Party's understanding of the rules of military power construction and employment to a new height, and opens up a new realm of innovation and development of the Party's military guidance theory. It is an important part of the scientific development concept, the application and development of the scientific development concept in the military field, and a scientific guide for advancing national defense and army building under the new situation.