Comrade Deng Xiaoping resigned from his
last post, chairman of the Central Military Commission, at the Fifth Plenary
Session of the Thirteenth Central Committee of the CPC in 1989 and passed his
ardent expectation in the people's army on to the new generation that was
ready to carry forward the cause pioneered by the predecessors and to forge
ahead into the future. Since then, 15 years have elapsed and Deng Xiaoping's
thinking on army building in the new era has been rooted in the people's army
which is striding proudly ahead along the road of building a better army with
Chinese characteristics started by Deng Xiaoping.
One judgment:
Peace and development are the two themes in today's world
More than two decades ago, Deng Xiaoping
sensed, with his keen political insight, that a new world war would not be
likely in the near future despite of the dark clouds of Cold War that was
haunting mankind then.
When meeting with a delegation of the
Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry on March 4, 1985, Deng Xiaoping put
forward his famous sharp observation: Peace and development were the two
themes in today's world.
Three months later, Deng Xiaoping held up
one of his fingers and announced on June 4, 1985 at the Eastern Hall of the
Great Hall of the People that China would reduce its armed forces by one
million, which shocked the world one more time.
The general reduction by as many as one
million troops is a hallmark indicating that the state of readiness to fight
early, to fight a major war and even a nuclear war had been put to an end and
the Chinese national defense and military building has been shifted, from that
time on, to a path of peaceful construction.
As a matter of fact, Deng Xiaoping's
whole range of thinking on army building was based on the correct judgment of
world trend in the new historical period. As the faithful guardian of the
Chinese national interests, what strategic guidelines should the PLA adopt?
Deng Xiaoping answered: I am for active defense.
Seeking truth from facts and making
changes in light of the changing situation was the approach Deng Xiaoping had
taken in making the right judgment on today's world trend. It was exactly
because the establishment of the principle and the orientation of the Chinese
army building in the new era conformed to the general trend of peace and
development that it became possible for China to broaden the space for
building a better army with Chinese characteristics and to ensure the
construction and reform in various sectors of the people' army stepping into a
new stage.
By Huang Guozhu, Jia Yong and Cao
Zhi
(August 17, PLA
Daily)
