Xi praises military's history

President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, speaks in Beijing on Tuesday, the 90th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army. JU PENG / XINHUA

PLA urged to uphold Party's absolute leadership, maintain combat readiness, innovate, stay true to faith and disciplines

China will never compromise on its sovereignty, security and development interests, President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday at a ceremony in Beijing marking the 90th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army.

"The Chinese people love peace. We will never seek aggression or expansion, but we have the confidence to defeat all invasions," the president told the television audience and those in attendance and at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. "We will never allow any people, organization or political party to split any part of Chinese territory out of the country at any time, in any form … and no one should expect us to swallow the bitter fruit that is harmful to our sovereignty, security or development interests."

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, told the PLA to uphold the Party's absolute leadership and China's socialist system; to safeguard the country's sovereignty, security and development interests; and to protect regional and global peace.

"The PLA must focus on improving its combat readiness... We have multiple ways to safeguard peace and security and prevent wars, but military means are always our last resort," he said.

In his speech, Xi looked back on the PLA's history, paths and sacrifices, saying the military has made so many historic contributions to the Party and the Chinese people.

He said the PLA's faith in the Party and its own lofty ideals, its fighting spirit and revolutionary discipline, as well as support from the people have been the foundation of its successes, adding the military must keep making reforms and innovate so it can always move forward.

He pledged to deepen the ongoing military reform, to encourage more use of science and technology in the PLA, and to push forward civil-military integration, which generally refers to the military transferring technologies to civilian sectors and commissioning private companies to produce equipment for the armed forces.

Xi also called for a new generation of "capable, brave and virtuous" army "with souls" in order to build a strong military.