After Deng Xiaoping was appointed as vice-chairman of
the Central Military Commission of the CPC and chief of the general staff
of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in 1975, he first of all called
for consolidation of the army, which, it can be said, was the beginning of
his efforts to push ahead with consolidation work and gradually change the
national situation.
Why should Deng Xiaoping choose the army consolidation
as the starting point for changing the national situation? Firstly,
Chairman Mao Zedong issued the directive "The army needs to be
consolidated", which was an indispensable basis for the army
consolidation. In addition to this, there was another reason, namely Deng
Xiaoping himself had close historical relations with the People's
Liberation Army. As early as in the1920s to 1930s, Deng Xiaoping involved
in the establishment of the 7th Army and the 8th Army of the Chinese
Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. Later, he, together with Liu Bocheng,
commanded the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, the
Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army and the 2nd Field Army of the PLA,
etc. to take part in many important campaigns. Like many other senior
military leaders, Deng Xiaoping had witnessed and devoted painstaking
efforts to the growth and development of the PLA. Thus, Deng Xiaoping and
other old generation military leaders simply could not tolerate the
Chinese People's Liberation Army being seriously undermined during the
Cultural Revolution.
On Jan. 25, one week after the conclusion of the Fourth
National People's Congress, Deng Xiaoping attended a conference of cadres
at regiment level and above from the organ of the PLA General Staff
Headquarters. In the face of the senior and middle-rank cadres he had long
parted with, Deng Xiaoping made a brief but emotional
speech.
That was actually the first important speech made by
Deng Xiaoping after he presided over the work of the State Council and the
army. Being resolute in attitude and clear-cut in approach, he put forward
the main problems that needed to be solved in army consolidation. What he
put forward were not only of guiding significance to the army
consolidation, but also were issues existing in the country on a wide
scale.
Deng Xiaoping's speech on army consolidation raised the
curtain of consolidation of the army and even that of the country as a
whole. From then on, various military consolidation work were being
carried out in the army in an orderly way under the leadership of the PLA
General Staff Headquarters.
(Sources from: Deng Xiaoping and China in
1975)
By Zhanghua
(August 9, PLA
Daily)
