Women serving in the PLA line up for inspection in Hong Kong during President Xi Jinping's visit to the city in June. LI GANG / XINHUA

Staying committed to the Chinese path of building strong armed forces and fully advancing the modernization of national defense and the military

We have reached a new historic starting point in strengthening national defense and the armed forces. Confronted with profound changes in our national security environment and responding to the demands of the day for a strong country with a strong military, we must fully implement the Party's thinking on strengthening the military for the new era, adapt military strategy to new conditions, build a powerful and modernized Army, Navy, Air Force, Rocket Force and Strategic Support Force, develop strong and efficient joint operations commanding institutions for theater commands and create a modern combat system with distinctive Chinese characteristics. Our armed forces must be up to shouldering the missions and tasks of the new era entrusted to them by the Party and the people.

We will adapt to the trend of a new global military revolution and to national security needs; we will upgrade our military capabilities and see that, by the year 2020, mechanization is basically achieved, IT application has come a long way and strategic capabilities have seen a big improvement. In step with our country's modernization process, we will modernize our military across the board in terms of theory, organizational structure, service personnel and weaponry. We will make it our mission to see that by 2035, the modernization of our national defense and our forces is basically completed; and that by the mid-21st century our people's armed forces are fully transformed into world-class forces.

We will continue to deepen national defense and military reform. We will further the reform of major policy systems, including the career officers system and the system for posting civilian personnel in the military. We will push ahead with transformation of military management, and improve and develop our distinctively Chinese socialist military institutions. We must keep it firm in our minds that technology is the core combat capability, encourage innovations in major technologies, and conduct innovations independently. We will strengthen the system for training military personnel, and make our people's forces more innovative. We will govern the military with strict discipline in every respect, push for a fundamental transformation in the way our military is run, and strengthen the role of the rule of law in enhancing national defense and military capabilities.