The time was on June 4, 1985 and
the place was in the Great Hall of the People. When the then Chairman of
the Central Military Commission Deng Xiaoping put up a finger and made the
following remarks, he caught the whole world by surprise---the Chinese
armed forces will be downsized by one million.
The idea of large
scale reduction of the military personnel by one million was first raised
by the then chairman of the Central Military Commission on November 1,
1984 in Jingxi Hotel when he attended a discussion participated by chief
leaders of the general headquarters/departments, military area commands
and different services and arms.
Deng Xiaoping said that we had fixed
our orientation of development, i.e. to give priority to economy. When the
economy was developed, it would make things easier for anything else. The
armed forces should think in terms of this overall interest, and should
not stand in the way of accomplishing it. Instead, the armed forces should
cooperate closely with fulfilling this overall interest and act
accordingly….and then, he unveiled his astonishing strategic decision with
a humorous tone: "We will go on with the reduction of our armed forces. We
are not forced to do so. Instead, we are doing it out of our own
initiative. As to how many we should cut off, I think one million is
better."
One million! Every general present,
without an exception, raised an eyebrow. What a profound strategic vision
and tremendous political courage it'll take to make a decision of chopping
off one million troops on our own initiative.
On June 4 the following year, Deng
Xiaoping declared openly the news of slashing the Chinese armed forces by
one million. Once the order of the supreme commander of the Chinese armed
forces was given, the officers and men took immediate actions accordingly.
From then on, the people's army has been steered forward in the brand new
course of building a fewer but better army with Chinese characteristics
and progressed by leaps and bounds along the road of building a fewer but
better, combined and highly efficient army.
(August 24, PLA
Daily)
