Ensuring High-Quality National Defense and Military Modernization Through High-Quality Political Army-Building

Ensuring High-Quality National Defense and Military Modernization Through High-Quality Political Army-Building (In-Depth Study and Implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era)

Research Center on Xi Jinping's Thought on Strengthening the Military

On July 30, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized at the 27th collective study session of the 20th Central Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China: "Political army-building (政治建军) is the founding principle of the people's army and bears on the direction and fundamental character of national defense and military modernization. We must uphold and strengthen the Party's absolute leadership over the military, comprehensively implement the new-era strategy for political army-building, strengthen theoretical arming, deepen ideological rectification (思想整风), consolidate the ideological foundation that makes officers and soldiers heed the Party and follow the Party, and ensure that the barrel of the gun forever obeys the Party's command." This important formulation profoundly elucidates the special status and role of political army-building, reveals the basic principles by which political army-building leads national defense and military modernization, and elevates our understanding of the laws governing national defense and military modernization to a new height. This year is the inaugural year of the 15th Five-Year Plan and also a year of decisive breakthroughs in achieving the centenary goal of army-building; our military's development is at a critical stage of improving quality and increasing efficiency. The deeper national defense and military modernization advances, the more firmly we must uphold the correct political orientation; the heavier the tasks and the more intertwined the risks, the more we must consolidate the political foundation, brighten the political character, and deepen the political advantage.

Political Army-Building Bears on the Direction and Fundamental Character of National Defense and Military Modernization

Only when one is politically indestructible can development proceed with sure and steady strides. The quality of political army-building is bound up with the nature and purpose of the people's army, with the rise or fall of the cause of military strengthening, and with the long-term stability of the Party and the state. The Party Central Committee, the Central Military Commission (CMC), and Chairman Xi have planned far ahead and made scientific arrangements, advancing national defense and military modernization through political deployment and leading the way onto the path of military strengthening with Chinese characteristics. We must deeply comprehend and fully implement the new-era strategy for political army-building, and establish scientific guidance for high-quality advancement of national defense and military modernization.

The political requirement for ensuring that national defense and military modernization proceeds steadily and reaches far. Chairman Xi has pointed out: "The question of the road is the foremost question bearing on the rise or fall of the Party's cause; the road is the Party's lifeblood." The foundation of political army-building lies in the Party's absolute leadership over the military, which determines the political character and the direction of advance of national defense and military modernization. Over nearly a hundred years, the Party has led the people's army from the "millet plus rifles" of the past, step by step developing into a powerful military that is accelerating the integrated development of mechanization, informatization (信息化), and intelligentization (智能化). It is precisely because our Party has consistently built and controlled the military ideologically and politically that national defense and military modernization has never deviated from its path, changed its course, or altered its character. Today, our military's development is shifting from "how many" in quantity to "how good" in quality, and from "how large" in scale to "how strong" in capability. Whether in setting planning objectives or advancing strategic tasks, we must continue to leverage the unique advantages of political army-building, implement all requirements with high quality, and ensure that national defense and military modernization always strides forward along the correct political direction.

An important treasure (法宝) for responding to the risks and challenges of national defense and military modernization. History has proven that political army-building has always been the distinctive advantage that sets the Party-led people's army apart from other militaries, and is the "ballast stone" with which our military effectively responds to risks and challenges. At present, the once-in-a-century transformation of the world is accelerating, the international situation is turbulent and chaotic, and the instability and uncertainty of our country's security environment are increasing. Faced with external encirclement, containment, and suppression, national defense and military modernization may face the risk of having its progress interrupted; faced with the rapid development of a new round of technological and military revolutions and the profound transformation of the form of warfare, national defense and military modernization confronts the predicament of key core technologies being "choked at the neck," "cut off at the chain," and "walled off." To respond to and resolve these risks and challenges, we must rely on political army-building to grasp the overall situation and trend, boost confidence and morale, and strengthen the spirit of struggle, ensuring that we maintain strategic resolve in a treacherous environment, make sound decisions under conditions of multiple overlapping security threats, seize the window of opportunity amid a multitude of construction tasks, accelerate the pace, and achieve high-quality results.

The fundamental guarantee for resolving prominent problems in national defense and military modernization. Political character is the essential attribute of the military; many problems in military development are connected to political problems and can only be fundamentally resolved by addressing them politically. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, our military's modernization level and combat readiness capability have improved significantly, and the cause of military strengthening has achieved historic accomplishments and undergone historic transformations. At the same time, we must recognize that the operational efficiency of the military system is still not high enough, and the dynamism and vitality for innovative development are still not sufficient enough—these deep-seated contradictions and problems constraining our military's high-quality development still exist in reality. Many of these contradictions and problems are connected to political problems; if they are not recognized and resolved politically, we will fall into the passive situation of treating symptoms rather than root causes. Only by strengthening political consciousness, enhancing political self-awareness, and improving political judgment (政治判断力), political comprehension (政治领悟力), and political execution (政治执行力) can we fundamentally and at the source resolve problems, making political army-building truly the "golden key" for overcoming difficulties and the "booster" for promoting high-quality development.

Political Army-Building Embodies the Objective Laws of National Defense and Military Modernization

Politics governs direction, governs the soul, and governs fundamentals. Political army-building is our Party's application of its own excellent qualities—qualities unmatched by any other party or political force—to infuse and transform the military, endowing our military with a lofty political mission, advanced political consciousness, and a pure political character, enabling it to withstand any test of wind and waves and to achieve victory after victory. This is the key code to why the Communist Party of China can succeed and why the people's army can win. To advance national defense and military modernization with high quality, we must firmly grasp political army-building as the fundamental, study the principles, and master the laws.

Uphold political guidance to set the course and direction for national defense and military modernization. The people's army is an armed group that executes the Party's political tasks; the foremost task of national defense and military modernization is to answer the fundamental questions of "what banner to raise, what road to take, whose command to follow, and for whom to fight." If the political direction is not firm, the foundation of national defense and military modernization will be unstable. The stronger the political guidance, the more robust national defense and military modernization will be; the more powerful the political guarantee, the more efficient national defense and military modernization will be. At present, great-power competition is intensifying, the struggle in the ideological domain is sharp and complex, and various currents of thought can easily impact officers' and soldiers' cognition and interfere with the layout of development. The more arduous the tasks and the more complex the situation, the more we must uphold, apply, and develop political army-building as an important treasure, ensuring that national defense and military modernization always advances in the direction the Party points.

Uphold ideological soul-forging (铸魂) to unite hearts and pool strength for national defense and military modernization. National defense and military modernization is a systems engineering project, encompassing all aspects including combat systems, military personnel, logistical support, weapons and equipment, and national defense mobilization. It involves many challenges, large investments, long cycles, and severe tests; relying solely on equipment, technology, and institutions cannot resolve problems of value identification, spiritual motivation, and organizational mobilization—it is necessary to rely on strong ideological leadership to unite hearts and pool strength. National defense and military modernization is a contest of technology and even more a contest of hearts and minds; a contest of hardware and even more a contest of faith; a contest of material resources and even more a contest of spirit. High-quality political army-building means forging the soul and cultivating people, strengthening foundations and consolidating fundamentals, and uniting hearts and rallying spirits—using the Party's innovative theories of the new era to unify thinking, using the red bloodline and the culture of military strengthening to inspire the fighting spirit, and using powerful ideological mobilization, model leadership, and mass work to form a powerful combined force of military and civilian hearts united in advancing national defense and military modernization.

Uphold organizational consolidation to lay foundations and empower national defense and military modernization. Chairman Xi has emphasized: "The Party's strength comes from organization; when organization is strong, the military is strong." National defense and military modernization is vast in scale and complex in system; ultimately, achieving all objectives and tasks depends on Party organizations at all levels to lead and advance. In those years, under the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, all relevant departments across the country coordinated and cooperated, pooled efforts to tackle key problems, leveraged the advantage of the whole-nation system (举国体制), and maximized the concentration of human, material, and financial resources, successfully developing the "Two Bombs, One Satellite" (两弹一星). This major achievement is a model example of transforming political advantages, organizational advantages, and institutional advantages into advantages for national defense and military modernization under the Party's strong leadership. The facts tell us that the reason the Party's organization has strength is that it possesses political leadership capacity, ideological guidance capacity, mass organizational capacity, and social mobilization capacity, enabling it to make meticulous decisions, broadly mobilize forces, and effectively overcome difficulties. High-quality advancement of national defense and military modernization especially requires using strong organizational leadership to run through the entire development chain, transforming the political capacity of Party organizations at all levels into the capacity to tackle key development challenges.

Uphold the emergence of talent to provide support for national defense and military modernization. People are the core element of combat power and also the decisive factor in national defense and military modernization. Advanced equipment and advanced systems must be mastered by "brave hearts and powerful hands" and driven by a revolutionized and professionalized talent force. Looking back at history, our military's growth from small to large and from weak to strong, and the ever-broadening path of national defense and military modernization, have been made possible by the support of a large contingent of cadres and personnel who are politically strong and professionally excellent. Entering the new era, strictly selecting and appointing the worthy according to the standard of good military cadres, and concentrating efforts on forging a high-quality, specialized new type of military talent capable of shouldering the heavy responsibility of military strengthening, supports national defense and military modernization in advancing triumphantly. High-quality advancement of political army-building must firmly grasp talent as the decisive factor, strengthen the development of a revolutionized and professionalized talent force, and achieve simultaneous and coordinated improvement of political quality and scientific and technological quality.

Uphold discipline rectification (风纪整肃) to purify the ecosystem for national defense and military modernization. Corruption is a stumbling block and obstacle in the development of the Party's and the state's undertakings, and is a malignant tumor that must be excised from national defense and military modernization. There must absolutely be no one in the military who harbors disloyalty toward the Party, and absolutely no place for corrupt elements to hide. Today, the volume of funding invested in national defense and military modernization is growing ever larger, and major engineering projects and high-tech equipment procurement programs are increasing ever more; risks of corruption and security risks are simultaneously compounding. Only when political army-building leads the way and standards are strictly maintained can key links be controlled, ensuring that every yuan of military expenditure, every development project, and every piece of equipment can withstand the test of practice and history. High-quality political army-building requires comprehensively and strictly governing the Party and comprehensively and strictly governing the military, clearing accumulated malpractices through political rectification, regulating the exercise of power through intra-Party oversight, discovering problems through mass oversight, and building a solid defensive line for high-quality advancement of national defense and military modernization.

Political Army-Building Manifests the Distinctive Features and Advantages of National Defense and Military Modernization

Political army-building is the principle and activity by which our Party builds and controls the military ideologically and politically; its starting point is politics, and its implementation also depends on politics—this is our military's distinctive characteristic and unique advantage. Now, the new "three-step" approach to national defense and military modernization is approaching a historic juncture of strategic transition. We must advance political army-building without pause, deeply study and explore practical paths for transforming distinctive features and advantages into development advantages, and continuously open up new vistas for national defense and military modernization.

Strengthen the ideological positioning of political guidance. Ideological soul-forging, as the foundational project of political army-building, is in essence about consolidating officers' and soldiers' faith and conviction and cultivating political loyalty through systematic theoretical arming and value shaping, providing lasting endogenous motivation for national defense and military modernization. In advancing national defense and military modernization, we must strengthen political guidance, more actively and proactively integrate into the great process of Chinese-style modernization (中国式现代化), and ensure that military development goals remain consistently aligned with the Party's goals of struggle; continuously deepen theoretical arming, study and apply well Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, especially Xi Jinping's Thought on Strengthening the Military (习近平强军思想), and guide officers and soldiers to deeply understand and grasp the Party's basic theories, basic line, and basic strategies, genuinely using the major decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and Chairman Xi on advancing modernization to unify thinking and action; strengthen ideological and political education, inspire the drive and boldness to strive for excellence, temper the will and courage to pioneer and innovate, form a rich atmosphere of solidarity and cooperation, and contribute wisdom and strength to high-quality advancement of national defense and military modernization.

Strengthen political self-awareness of the Party leading everything. Chairman Xi has emphasized: "Party, government, military, civilian, and academic; east, west, south, north, and center—the Party leads everything." As reflected in military development, this means ensuring that all work is placed under the unified leadership of the Party committee, and that all important questions are studied and decided by the Party committee. High-quality advancement of national defense and military modernization must leverage the key role of Party organizations at all levels in tackling major tasks, resolving prominent contradictions, and solving development difficulties. Uphold Party control over military affairs, run Party leadership through all aspects of training and war preparation, deeply advance the transformation and upgrading of military training, accelerate the development of advanced combat power, focus on new-domain and new-quality (新域新质) combat forces, progressively build an intelligentized military system, and accelerate national defense science and technology innovation and the conversion of advanced technologies. Uphold Party control over cadres, implement the standard for good military cadres, systematically improve the work of selecting and employing personnel, improve the capacity and level of supply of all types of talent, and achieve a virtuous interaction between talent force development and national defense and military modernization. Uphold Party control over sectors, improve the oversight system for major projects, strengthen civil-military integrated oversight, regulate sector order, consolidate and improve the integrated national strategic system and capabilities, and genuinely transform the advantage of Party leadership into an advantage for national defense and military modernization.

Strengthen rigid constraints for quality improvement and efficiency enhancement. The key to fully leveraging the role of political army-building in high-quality advancement of national defense and military modernization lies in transforming its principles and requirements into institutional mechanisms that ensure high quality in national defense and military modernization. Always treat implementing the system of CMC Chairman responsibility as the highest political requirement to be observed and the highest political discipline to be upheld; strengthen inspection and supervision (巡视巡察), audit oversight, and rectification follow-through, ensuring that wherever Chairman Xi's decisions and deployments on high-quality advancement of national defense and military modernization reach, political oversight follows. Always uphold combat effectiveness as the fundamental orientation and standard of evaluation; improve and refine the indicator system, evaluation system, and oversight system oriented toward actual combat, and use whether it is conducive to improving combat effectiveness to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of national defense and military modernization. Resolutely rectify work styles, enforce discipline, and combat corruption; continuously and deeply advance political rectification and strengthen the rectification and governance of key sectors and fields; strengthen awareness of laws and regulations and strictly advance development according to plans; carry forward fine traditions and uphold the principle of building the military through diligence and thrift; create a sound ecosystem for high-quality advancement of national defense and military modernization; and ensure that all development meets the baseline of quality, capability, and integrity.

Strengthen the sense of responsibility for achieving success through hard work. Hard work is the only path to accomplishing great undertakings and is also an intrinsic requirement for high-quality advancement of national defense and military modernization. National defense and military modernization is an undertaking without precedent; it cannot for a single moment be separated from hard and solid work. We must enhance the sense of responsibility, establish and practice a correct view of political achievements (政绩观), and persist in the spiritual realm of "success need not be achieved in my time" and the historical responsibility of "success will certainly be achieved with my participation," resolutely shouldering the heavy responsibilities entrusted by the Party and the people. Improve the capacity for struggle; strengthen ideological tempering, political training, practical exercise, and professional training; continuously enhance the courage to dare to struggle and the ability to struggle skillfully; be willing to gnaw on hard bones and handle hot potatoes; and through severe and complex struggles, weather storms, broaden experience, strengthen sinews and bones, and grow in ability. Practice a pragmatic work style; carry forward the spirit of hammering nails; persist in seeing one blueprint through to the end; resolutely oppose formalism and bureaucratism; and be resolute actors and hard workers in advancing national defense and military modernization.

People's Daily (August 19, 2026, Page 9)