PLA Daily 2005-05-26

　　Fighting spirit is something that is indispensable for an individual soldier and an important ingredient of the fighting capability of the entire armed forces. The cultivation of fighting spirit should proceed from the requirements of real combat and should be imbued with more connotations of the present time, inter alia.

　　As a glorious tradition and fine style of work of our army, an indomitable fighting spirit undoubtedly always implies the same profound connotations such as firm revolutionary faith, high combat morale and brave fighting style, and so on. These virtues should not be abandoned or altered at any time. However, this does not mean that the connotations of fighting spirit should be rigid and immutable. On the contrary, they are constantly developed, enriched and deepened as the time goes by.

　　In the future war, mere courage is far from being enough. In addition to doing a good job in cultivating bravery and physical strength, attention should likewise be paid to the increase of wisdom and consummation of skills, so as to help the officers and men to acquire the ability of responding to the changing circumstances, superb fighting skills, accumulation of profound knowledge and rich and insightful experience. The features of the modern war in terms of high intensity, fast in tempo, cruel and fierce in fighting pose severe challenges to the psychological quality of the troops. The characteristics of high-tech weaponry and equipment featuring high precision, easy to conceal and capable of launching long-distance strikes and of mass destruction can easily make the troops feel nervous, and even panic. The imbalanced development of military science and technology in different countries is likely to project obvious asymmetry when two opponents are confronting each other in war, which can easily undermine the fighting will and morale of the officers and men of the weak party. Therefore, modern wars call for good psychological quality of the troops, which can stand psycho warfare, conquer the enemy and win the war.

　　By Xie Caishu

　　(May 26, PLA Daily)