Jiang's hold over military tightens
This week's mainland press reports of President Jiang Zemin's inspection tour of the Second Artillery Unit, the controller of China's nuclear weapons system, shows he is consolidating his grip on the armed forces, according to analysts.
Mr Jiang's visits are part of a round of national conferences taking place in the run-up to the 16th Communist Party congress in October when the leadership of the Central Military Commission will be reshuffled.
Mr Jiang is expected to retain the chairmanship of the powerful body. He needs the military's backing to promote a younger group of PLA commanders and to build support for his drive to push the party further away from orthodox Marxist-Leninism.
The PLA had been ordered by the Politburo to intensify its study of Mr Jiang's Theory of the Three Representatives - which holds that the party must represent the foremost production forces, the most advanced culture and the interests of the masses - in preparation for the party congress.
Mr Jiang pushed for a 17.6 per cent increase in the defence budget to 166 billion yuan (HK$156 billion) at this year's National People's Congress when PLA delegates talked openly about how soldiers were poorly paid and housed.
To drive home Mr Jiang's ideological agenda, mainland media reports on Wednesday elevated him to a stature equal to that of Chairman Mao Zedong.
The Liberation Army Daily quoted Mao when he established the Second Artillery Division in 1966: 'We must not only have many more planes and guns, we must have the bomb. In today's world, we cannot do without this thing, if we want to avoid being bullied.'
The press also highlighted Mr Jiang's instruction, a new 26-character slogan: 'Our development of strategic nuclear weapons does not aim at offence, but rather at defence, and active defence.' Press reports claimed that after Mr Jiang took charge of the Central Military Commission, he paid 'high attention' to the construction of the Second Artillery.
The media campaign also stressed that Mr Jiang called on the unit to demonstrate absolute loyalty to the party.
The visit coincides with rising tensions with the United States over Taiwan. A People's Daily commentary expressed anger at a recent leaked US report showing China on a list of countries that could be targeted by Washington's nuclear arsenal.
