'China to build lean but mean military'

BEIJING: Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday asked the military to be loyal "forever" to the ruling Communist Party while promising to spend more in the "historical mission" of building a lean but mean armed force in the face of global uncertainties.

"To follow the CPC's command is the overriding political requirement that the Party and Chinese people have placed on the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and is the unshakable and fundamental principle for the PLA," Hu said while addressing a grand rally held to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the PLA, the world's largest standing army.

"In these 80 years, the PLA has fostered its fine revolutionary traditions," he said.

"The traditions, in essence, mean that the PLA is forever at the CPC's command and the service of the people and should be courageous and skillful at war fighting," Hu, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) said.

The PLA plays a crucial behind-the-scene role in Chinese politics. The CPC leadership places great confidence in the support of the 2.3-million-strong armed force to maintain political and social stability and sustain the one-party rule in the world's most populous nation.

"The noble spirit that the PLA has nurtured over the years is to adhere to the absolute leadership of the Party," the Chinese President said as the CPC prepared to hold the 17th Party Congress in the coming months where Hu is expected to secure another five-year-term as General Secretary of the Party.

"Only by putting itself under the CPC leadership has the PLA been able to stay on the right course politically and maintained its strong cohesion and combat effectiveness as well as its vigour and vitality," he said at the event attended by the top CPC leadership.

Hu said China will gradually increase its defence budget as its national economy grows.

"We will gradually increase input in national defence as the economy grows, and continue to modernise national defence and the armed forces in a way that serves the interests of our national security and development," he said.

The Chinese legislature approved in March the national defence budget for 2007 fiscal year, which reached 44.94 billion US dollars, up 17.8 percent over 2006.

Hu said, the modernisation of national defence and armed forces "is the historical mission of the PLA and the common cause of the Chinese people of all ethnic groups."

"Economic growth is the basis for enhancing defence capabilities, which is in turn an important indicator of the overall national strength," he said.

The President stressed that while adhering to the defensive nature of the country's military build-up, China must build a "slim but strong" armed forces by striking a sound balance between speed, quality and efficiency in the modernisation drive of the armed forces.

"The world is experiencing profound transformation, China should be alert to potential risks," he said. "The international situation is generally stable, but the world is not all peaceful," he said.

The PLA is "no longer a small, single-service force, but a strong and multiple-service force," which has made progress in modernisation and is stepping toward an information technology-based army, Hu said.

"By putting in place a comprehensive scientific, technological and industrial structure for national defence, the PLA is increasingly better positioned to defend the nation," he said.