The General Target of Army Building in the New Period

It refers to the overall goal for the construction of Chinese People’s Liberation Army in the new period of Reform and Opening-up proposed by Deng Xiaoping, that is, to build a powerful, modern and regular revolutionary army. Since the founding of the people's army in 1927, the Chinese Communists gradually established the basic principles of building armed forces through political work: “Sanwan reorganization” created the organizational system of “Party branches built on the company”; the Gutian Conference clarified the principle of “political army building”, establishing the political attribute of the “revolutionization” of the people's army; after the founding of New China, the general army building policy of “building an excellent modern revolutionary army” was established. In the autumn of 1981, Deng Xiaoping proposed the general goal of army building in the new period. The specific connotations are as follows: Firstly, revolutionization stipulates the nature, purpose and political direction of our army, which requires the army to follow the Party’s absolute leadership and the fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly, and to consistently maintain the revolutionary nature of the people’s army; Secondly, modernization is the most direct reflection and core element of combat effectiveness, which requires the army to adapt to the needs of future wars, comprehensively upgrade the quality of officers and soldiers, improve weapons and equipment, scientifically adjust the institutional establishment, and improve the overall combat capability and level under modern conditions; Thirdly, regularization reflects the organizational, management and discipline level of the army, which requires the army to adhere to the fundamental principle of governing the army in accordance with the law and with strict discipline, and to promote the army building to gradually embark on the development path of institutionalization and legalization; Fourthly, the core of the general goal is to build a strong people ’s army which can resist any foreign aggressions and threats, defend national interests and ensure national security, and contribute to world peace; Fifthly, revolutionization, modernization, and regularization are interconnected, mutually promoted, and inseparable.

Revolutionization is fundamental, modernization is the center, and regularization is the guarantee. Only comprehensive and coordinated development in the three aspects can we truly improve our army's combat effectiveness. According to the general goal of army building in the new period and the constantly developing army realities, Jiang Zemin put forward the general requirements of "five sentences", Hu Jintao put forward "strengthening the overall construction of the army in accordance with the principle of unity of revolutionization, modernization and regularization", and Xi Jinping put forward the goal of building a strong army that “listens to the Party's command, is able to win battles, and has a good style of work” under the new situation, continuously deepening, concretizing, and updating the general goal. The proposal of the general goal of army building in the new period meets the requirements of the development of the times, shows the nature, tasks and programs of the people’s army in the new period, grasps the fundamentals of army building in the new period, and points out the direction for our army’s construction and reform, which is a banner that unites the army as well as a powerful target impetus to inspire and motivate morale.