Top Chinese general draws on Jiang’s legacy to highlight importance of loyalty in military
China’s most senior general Zhang Shengmin has invoked the late former president Jiang Zemin’s response to the collapse of the Soviet Union and first Gulf war in an article emphasising the importance of party unity and military reform in the face of external threats. This month has seen a series of commemorative events to mark the centenary of Jiang’s birth, including a grand ceremony in Beijing…
China's top military official, Zhang Shengmin, has drawn parallels between the legacy of former President Jiang Zemin and the current challenges facing the People's Liberation Army (PLA). In a recent article, Zhang invoked Jiang's responses to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the first Gulf war to underscore the significance of party unity and military reform in the face of external threats.
This article comes on the heels of a series of events commemorating the centenary of Jiang's birth, including a grand ceremony in Beijing where President Xi Jinping praised Jiang's legacy.
The article, published by the official People's Daily, highlights how Jiang navigated China's turbulent post-Soviet era. Zhang pointed out that during this period, hostile forces were promoting the concepts of depoliticisation, de-partyisation, and nationalisation, aiming to strip the military of its ideological control and leadership.
Jiang, however, firmly upheld the party's absolute leadership as the core foundation of the PLA, launching extensive education campaigns and purging factionalism and other harmful tendencies to maintain centralized unity under the party's direction.
In the recent Gulf war, Zhang noted that Jiang "keenly recognised" the evolution of modern warfare and pursued a path of building elite troops with Chinese characteristics. He advocated for a shift away from a manpower-heavy model to a focus on modern technology and quality over quantity in armament production. This transformation involved reducing the PLA's troop count by 500,000 in 1997, reallocating funds towards research and development, and allocating resources to modernize the navy, air force, strategic missile forces, and space programmes.
The military ultimately moved away from conscription in favor of engineers and technical specialists skilled in advanced, computer-guided systems and emergency mobile units for counter-separatist operations and Taiwan Strait deterrence.
Zhang emphasized that as the PLA prepares for its centenary next August, the best tribute to Jiang and other predecessors is to accelerate the military's transformation into a world-class force. Beijing's upcoming centenary celebration aims to showcase military advancements, with a broad yet vague definition of what this achievement entails.
Written by urgent.news from Reuters Business via SCMP's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
