By Liu Shenyang

    BEIJING, Oct. 18 -- Chairman Hu Jintao of the Central Military Commission has put forward the historical mission for the army in the new century and the new period and made clear that the scientific outlook on development is the guiding principle for army building, and the army building then ushers in a favorable period of rapid development. To better solve the key and difficult problems inhibiting army building and switch the army building over to the track of scientific development in real earnest, we should do well in the following major aspects:

    Setting up a standard military theory system. As a modernized army or an army which tends towards modernization, an improved military theory system must be established. The leading and driving role of theory to practice should be given full play and theory should be the leading factor for the all-round, coordinated and sustainable development of army building.

    Building up a mentality that meets the development of the times. Dramatic changes have been experienced in the last 20 years in world strategic configuration and the Chinese society. Along with them is the cropping up of a host of new contradictions and problems in army building, which in turn is pressing for timely adjustment and change of the mode of increasing the combat effectiveness. To meet the needs of the developing and changing situation, the foremost important thing is to establish a new mentality so as to provide guidance to practice with the spirit of daring to bring in new ideas and the working style of pragmatism and seeking truth from facts, and to ensure the correct orientation of practice.

    Putting in place a modern military system. In light of the requirements of the scientific outlook on development and on the basis of leaving the composition of the armed forces intact, it is fine to redefine the function of and the division of work among the active service troops, reserve-duty forces and the militia, and make sure that their duties are complementary and are able to bring out the best in each other. It ought to regulate the command and control system in accordance with the requirements of reducing the tiers, differentiating strategic directions, and being conducive to the formation of joint operation strength and deployment, and see to it that the administrative management should be separated from military operation, the combat groups remain the same at both peace time and war time, the combat troops are classified in terms of development, the troops are grouped flexibly under the stable command system in order to meet the needs of dealing with emergencies and combat. It is necessary to practice unified support, composite support and logistics outsourcing, and transform the mode of improving combat effectiveness and enhance the efficiency of army building.

    Improving and establishing a highly effective management mechanism. While solving the system problems, special efforts should be made to establish the following mechanisms: First, to establish an authoritative mechanism in which once the overall objective is set, other sub-objectives of different tiers must subject to the overall objective and make good implementation; second, to establish a service support mechanism with the enhancement of the combat effectiveness as the criterion and the combat troops and personnel as the main objects of service; third, to establish a management mechanism which can secure better efficiency with a given input to the army by the state; fourth, to establish a framework of being strict with the army on the ground of military disciplines, national laws and ethics, and to solve the contradictions and problems by resorting to laws, policies and regulations.

    Developing weapons and equipment according to the demands of military operations with IT application. It must see to it that the existing weapons and equipment should be systemized and completed step by step and make sure that they can meet the requirements for combat tasks. The weapons and equipment should be developed by series to meet the demands of the army in implementing the historical mission in the new century and the new period. The mechanism of constant innovation and development should be secured in a bid to meet the demands of the changing patterns of war.

    (Source: PLA Daily)