Run the Army in Accordance with Laws and Regulations

It is the basic strategy for governing the army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. The proposal of the theory on governing the army in accordance with the law and with strict discipline is an important innovation of the theory on governing the army of the people’s army. It was conceived during the revolutionary war period initiated by the army. After the Sanwan reorganization, it was gradually made clear that the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army should implement the “three main rules of discipline and eight points for attention”. In 1930, the Red Army promulgated the first “Regulations on the Discipline of Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Draft)”, and later formulated and promulgated and revised the “Interior Service Regulations” and “Disciplinary Regulations” in 1942, gradually forming the discipline regulations of our army. After the founding of new China, the “Political Work Regulations of People's Liberation Army (Draft)”, “Officers Service Regulations” and “Military Service Law” were issued, initially establishing the military legal system and opening the curtain for the exploration of the theory on governing the army according to law in practices.

After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee, in the new historical period of Reform and Opening-up, Deng Xiaoping proposed that in the reform of the entire Party and state leadership system, rule by man should be abandoned, and the rule of law should be advocated, so as to ensure that “there are laws to abide by, laws are observed, laws are strictly enforced and lawbreakers are prosecuted”, which has laid a solid ideological foundation for the establishment of the basic strategy of “governing the army in accordance with the law and with strict discipline”. The Central Military Commission clearly stated in the "Instructions on the Work of the PLA in 1989": “The work of PLA shall focus on regularization, and the army shall be governed in accordance with the law and with strict discipline... so as to comprehensively manage the inattentive, loose and disorderly phenomenon of the army”. This is the first time in the history of the construction of the people's army that “governing the army in accordance with the law” and “governing the army with strict discipline” were officially written into the document that arranges the main work of PLA.

In June 1990, Chairman Jiang Zemin of the Central Military Commission signed an order to issue the “Interior Service Regulations of Chinese People's Liberation Army”, which for the first time required to “adhere to governing the army in accordance with the law and with strict discipline and implement strict and scientific formal management”. It has “become an important legal basis for army building”. The basic connotation of governing the army according to law means to manage the army, and build national defense and the army, in accordance with laws and regulations. It mainly means to stipulate the basic principles of the Party’s absolute leadership over the army, the Party’s propositions on national defense and armed forces construction, and the successful experience in managing the army, etc., in the form of laws, ensure that “there are laws to abide by, laws are observed, laws are strictly enforced and lawbreakers are prosecuted” and promote scientific, institutionalized and standardized army building. Governing the army with strict discipline refers to manage troops and guide work in strict accordance with high standards and regulations. So that strict system, strict training, and strict management are implemented and every order is executed without fail. After the 18th CPC National Congress, Xi Jinping, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, proposed the goal of building a strong army under the new situation, and pointed out that governing the army in accordance with the law and with strict discipline is the foundation of building a strong army, and it shall be placed in parallel with “listening to Party command” (the soul of building a strong army) and “being able to win battles” (the key to building a strong army). In addition, it was pointed out profoundly that “in-depth advancement of governing the army in accordance with the law and with strict discipline is an important part of the overall deployment of governing the country in accordance with the law, and the inevitable requirement for achieving the goal of building a strong army”.

In-depth advancement of governing the army in accordance with the law and with strict discipline represents a profound change in the way our army governs the army, that is, striving to achieve “three fundamental changes”: from simply relying on administrative orders to administration according to law, from carrying out work based solely on habit and experience to carrying out work based on regulations and systems, and from crash and campaign work style to working according to regulations. These “three fundamental changes” clarified the internal requirements of our army's modernization strategic transformation to change the way of governing the army and identified the important focus of in-depth advancement of governing the army in accordance with the law and with strict discipline under the new situation. Xi Jinping’s series of important discourses on governing the army according to law profoundly clarified the strategic position, fundamental principles, and objectives of governing the army in accordance with the law and with strict discipline under new historical conditions, scientifically answered a series of major theoretical and practical questions on the military rule of law construction with Chinese characteristics, and greatly promoted the process of governing the army in accordance with the law and with strict discipline. At the beginning of 2015, the Central Military Commission issued the “Decision on In-depth Advancement of Governing the Army in Accordance with the Law and with Strict Discipline under the New Situation”, emphasizing that a modern country must be a country ruled by law, and a modern army must be an army ruled by law. The more modern and information-based the army is, the more it must be ruled by law.

In-depth advancement of governing the army in accordance with the law and with strict discipline is an important part of the overall deployment of governing the country in accordance with the law, the inevitable requirement for achieving the goal of building a strong army, an important guarantee for deepening the national defense and army reform, and also a strong guarantee for the troops effectively fulfilling missions and tasks and a high degree of concentration and unity. The Report of the 19th CPC National Congress has written it into the basic strategy of adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. The theory on governing the army in accordance with the law and with strict discipline is the product of the Communist Party of China combining Marxism-Leninism’s military theory with contemporary China’s reality and the characteristics of the times, the inheritance and development of Mao Zedong's military thought under new historical conditions, and the crystallization of the collective wisdom of the whole Party and the whole army. As a modern concept and model of governing the army, it can ensure that the army can effectively fulfill its historical mission under the national constitution and legal framework, which is the only way to regularization and modernization of the army.