Doctrine Political Work

Strong Military Forum | Settling Old Accounts Is Itself Building New Achievements

强军论坛丨理旧账就是树新绩

PLA Daily (解放军报) 6 August 2026

Summary

A commentary in the PLA's Strong Military Forum, authored by Sun Yang, argues that newly appointed unit commanders must resolve inherited institutional problems—unaddressed grievances of junior officers and soldiers, chronic construction shortfalls, entrenched malpractices—rather than deferring them, framing this obligation through Xi Jinping's concept of a correct 政绩观 (view of political achievement). The piece documents a recurring PLA political-work concern: that cadres rotating through command billets avoid difficult legacy problems to protect their own performance records, a structural incentive the institution is actively trying to counter. The framing points to persistent tension between short tour-length incentives and the multi-term continuity required for base infrastructure, family support, and unit governance problems that the article cites as concrete examples.

Translation

Settling Old Accounts Is Itself Building New Achievements

■ Sun Yang

In practice, some newly appointed leading cadres tend to treat historically inherited difficult problems as hot potatoes, feeling more or less apprehensive when confronted with them. Viewed through the lens of dialectics, those long-unresolved old accounts conceal squandered opportunities, overlooked resources, and eroded trust — they are exam questions left unanswered in the course of an undertaking's development. Looking further at actual results, the courage and skill to settle old accounts can not only clear the bottlenecks and blockages on the road ahead, but can also yield a clear picture of the baseline state of construction, remedy shortfalls in development, and accumulate momentum and energy for long-term growth.

Whether one correctly recognizes and treats old accounts is a touchstone for testing whether a Party member cadre's view of political achievement (政绩观) is sound. Chairman Xi once wrote in the essay "One Must Be Willing to Do the Work of Laying the Foundation" (《要甘于做铺垫之事》): "Refusing to act on anything one did not personally initiate, insisting on stamping one's own mark of political achievement before doing anything — this is not the style of a Communist Party leading cadre." The "old" in old accounts refers to time being in the past, but the accounts themselves have never belonged to any single term of office. For example: urgent and difficult concerns of grassroots officers and soldiers that remain unresolved; stubborn problems that have long constrained grassroots-level construction; entrenched malpractices and bad habits that have never been fundamentally corrected — these may on the surface appear to be old accounts left by predecessors, but behind them lie long-term accounts connected to the vital interests of officers and soldiers, to combat effectiveness building, and to the political ecology of the unit. Not one of them can be dodged, dragged out, or left in arrears. These problem areas and shortfalls are precisely the important breakthrough points for the incumbent to pursue development and open new ground. When leading cadres treat settling old accounts not as a burden but as an opportunity, they come to understand one truth: settling old accounts is itself building new achievements.

Clearing old accounts tests Party spirit (党性). Old accounts are complex in origin, broad in scope, and resolving them is often "thankless hard work." With strong Party spirit, old accounts, however difficult, are one's own responsibility; with weak Party spirit, old accounts, however minor, become someone else's business. When Jiao Yulu took up his post in Lankao, what lay before him was the heavy old account of the "three scourges" — waterlogging, sandstorms, and saline-alkali soil. He did not seek out a different track to manufacture short-term highlights; instead, he plunged headlong into the sand dunes and low-lying areas to investigate root causes and seek solutions, and in breaking through that historical predicament he found the path to sand control and agricultural revival, leaving behind a spiritual legacy that transcends time and space. The facts prove that with firm Party spirit, old accounts can be cleared, and "historical negative assets" can be transformed into "new space for development."

Clearing old accounts depends on method. In dealing with old accounts, one must neither turn a blind eye and push them aside, nor simply negate everything wholesale and start from scratch. For planned tasks that conform to the laws of construction and meet the demands of war preparedness but remain unfinished, hold firm to seeing one blueprint through to completion and continue advancing their implementation. For projects that are detached from reality, contain flaws, or are unsustainable, make corrections and adjustments in a realistic and pragmatic manner. For entrenched chronic ailments (积弊沉疴) that harm the interests of officers and soldiers and obstruct the generation of combat effectiveness, dare to take real, hard action and eliminate them completely. Settling old accounts is often more complex and thorny than charting new chapters, but solutions always outnumber difficulties — get a clear picture of the actual situation, apply differentiated measures by category, and press forward with courage, and old accounts can be properly settled.

Fundamentally, settling old accounts is for the purpose of better building new achievements. In recent years, the Party committees of several successive terms in many units have, with the spirit of "success need not be attributed to me" (功成不必在我), taken turns resolving inherited problems related to supporting facilities at training grounds, employment for family members who have relocated with the military, and barracks renovation. After one old account after another has been cleared, the bottlenecks that had constrained combat effectiveness building for years were consequently opened up, and the cohesion of the troops continued to rise. This shows that settling old accounts properly — clearing blockages, restoring confidence, optimizing governance, and consolidating strength — is not only remedial work for the past but also paving the road for the future. More valuable still, drawing lessons from the process of settling old accounts and establishing rules and systems, achieving a leap from "resolving one problem" to "breaking through a category of problems" and "elevating an entire domain," allows old accounts to become incremental gains for development.

Old accounts must not be "passed down from generation to generation." Leading cadres at all levels who establish and practice a correct view of political achievement (政绩观) should have the consciousness and sense of responsibility to settle old accounts as new officials (新官理旧账). Regardless of when old accounts were created or how they came about, as long as they affect unit construction and the interests of officers and soldiers, one must without hesitation "work through them" — turning "stumbling blocks" into "stepping stones," converting the stock of old accounts into new underlying assets, so that the foundation for development is more solid and its staying power more robust.

Original Chinese

理旧账就是树新绩 ■孙阳现实中，一些新上任的领导干部常把历史遗留难题视作烫手山芋，面对它们多多少少有些发怵。从辩证法的角度看，那些久拖未决的旧账，藏着被耽误的机遇、被忽略的资源、被磨损的信任，是事业发展进程中尚未答完的考题。再从实际效果观察，敢于理旧账、善于理旧账，既能扫清前行路上的堵点淤点，更能摸清建设底数、补齐发展短板，为长远发展积势蓄能。能否正确认识旧账、对待旧账，是检验党员干部政绩观是否端正的试金石。习主席曾在《要甘于做铺垫之事》一文中写道：“不是自己开头的不为，一定要刻上自己的政绩印记才干，这不是共产党领导干部的风格。”旧账之“旧”，旧在时间是过去的，但账之所属却从不是某一任的。比如，基层官兵悬而未决的急难愁盼、长期制约基层建设的疑难杂症、一直未能根治的积弊陋习，等等，这些表面看是前任遗留的旧账，背后关联的却是官兵切身利益、战斗力建设、单位政治生态的长远账，件件躲不开、拖不起、欠不得，这些问题短板也恰恰是现任谋发展、开新局的重要突破口。领导干部不把理旧账当包袱，而是当机遇，就能明白一个理：理旧账就是树新绩。理清旧账，考验的是党性。旧账成因复杂，牵涉面广，解决起来往往“吃力不讨好”。党性强，旧账再难也是分内事；党性弱，旧账再小也是他人事。焦裕禄到兰考上任时，摆在面前的是内涝、风沙、盐碱“三害”这本沉重旧账，他没有另辟赛道打造短期亮点，而是一头扎进沙丘洼地查症结、寻对策，在破解历史困局中找到了治沙兴农的路径，留下跨越时空的精神财富。事实证明，有了坚强党性，旧账就能理清，“历史负资产”就能转化为“发展新空间”。理清旧账，依靠的是方法。对待旧账，既不能视而不见、一推了之，也不能简单全盘否定、推倒重来。对符合建设规律、契合备战需求，但尚未完成的规划任务，坚持一张蓝图绘到底，接续推进落地；对脱离实际、存在漏洞、难以为继的项目，实事求是纠偏调整；对损害官兵利益、阻碍战斗力生成的积弊沉疴，敢于动真碰硬彻底清零。理旧账，往往比绘新篇更复杂、更棘手，但办法总比困难多，摸清实情、分类施策、勇于攻坚，就能理好旧账。从根本上说，理旧账是为了更好地建新功。近年来，许多单位几届党委以“功成不必在我”的境界，接力解决训练场配套设施、随军家属就业、营房改造等相关遗留问题，一桩桩旧账清零之后，制约战斗力建设多年的瓶颈随之打通，部队凝聚力持续攀升。由此可见，把旧账理好，打通了堵点、修复了信心、优化了治理、凝聚了力量，不仅是为过去补课，更是为未来铺路。更为可贵的是，在理旧账中汲取教训、建章立制，实现从“解决一个问题”向“破解一类问题”“提升一个领域”跃升，让旧账成为发展增量。旧账不能“代代相传”。各级领导干部树立和践行正确政绩观，就应有“新官理旧账”的自觉与担当，不管旧账是何时造成的、怎样产生的，只要影响到部队建设、官兵利益，就要义不容辞地“理一理”，变“绊脚石”为“铺路石”，把存量旧账化为新的家底，让发展的基础更稳、后劲更足。