Today, the PLA Daily issues a New Year message titled "Grasp firmly the important guidelines for national defense and army building".

　　The article reads that on the occasion of the joyous New Year festival and the 50th anniversary of the founding of the PLA Daily, we would like to extend new-year greetings to all the officers and men of the PLA, the Armed Police Force and the people of all our ethnic groups. We would also like to express our sincere appreciations to the reading public who never fail to care about and to support the PLA Daily!

　　The article points out that the just ended year witnessed new progress chalked up by China in the sectors of economic, political, cultural and social construction as well as in the building of the Party. It is likewise a year that China's national defense and army building made a big stride forward. In the past year, the PLA gathered pace in boosting military reform with Chinese characteristics, performed various tasks soundly and solidly with the preparation for military struggle as the driving force, deepened the Party-wide education on maintaining the advanced nature of the Party members, adjusted and reformed its structure and organization actively and surely, secured eminent achievements in political, military, logistics building and armament development, constantly built up its capability in winning local wars under the informationalization conditions, and accomplished various missions entrusted by the Party and the people splendidly.

　　The article underscores that the year 2006 will kick off China's 11th Five-Year Plan, and is also an important year to promote military reform with Chinese characteristics and to realize the strategic objectives of building an information-oriented force and winning the information warfare. In the face of the new situation and tasks, the key to do well in fulfilling various tasks and to effectively fulfill the historical missions of the army in the new century and the new period, is to stick to taking the scientific outlook on development as the important guideline, carry out the outlook in the whole process of the national defense and army building and put it into effect in various sectors of national defense and army building so as to put the army building on the track of scientific development in real earnest.

　　The article calls for intensifying army building in an all-round way in the new year in accordance with the principle of integrating revolutionization, modernization and regularization; boosting the overall development of the military modernization construction of the armed forces by adhering to the principle of taking the preparation for military struggle as the driving force; promoting proactively military reform with Chinese characteristics by insisting on freeing ourselves from old ideas, forging ahead and blazing new trails; further adjusting and reforming the structure, organization, policies and system, changing the modes of leadership and management and exerting greater efforts to improve the overall quality and efficiency of the army building; and upholding the concept of putting people first as the important approach for building and running the army so as to respect fully the subjective position and creative spirit of all the officers and men and to strive to promote and to effectuate the overall development of the officers and men.

　　(Jan 1, PLA Daily)