Communist Party 'controls the gun', PLA top brass reminded
Military chiefs plead allegiance to President Xi at gathering in Fujian, warning officers that wider tides threatened to test loyalties
Members of the PLA's top brass have pledged allegiance to President Xi Jinping , reaffirming the rule that the "party controls the gun" following a political conference in Fujian last week, state media reported yesterday.
The two vice-chairmen of the Central Military Commission (CMC) said "enemy forces" were trying to move the People's Liberation Army away from the Communist Party's leadership, according to the army's mouthpiece, the PLA Daily.
The pledges, by General Fan Changlong and General Xu Qiliang , came on Friday at the close of a two-day conference in Gutian, in Shanghang county, where Mao Zedong held a historic congress in 1929 that established the principle that the party leads the army. Analysts said the choice of location was a deliberate attempt by Xi to link himself with the earlier era.
In its report on the conference, the PLA Daily said: "We are fighting many great battles with historically new features, with ideological struggles being the sharpest as 'colour revolutions' are simmering," referring to recent turmoil in eastern Europe and the Middle East.
It said the army should "grasp the initiative in the ideological struggle and rebuild its military spirit". This was necessary to guard against "incorrect political ideas", such as making the army an instrument of the nation, instead of one devoted to the party.
Fan and Xu ordered the army to be loyal to Xi, the report said. General Zhang Yang, who is head of the army's chief political organ, stressed the PLA would stage a long and extensive campaign to strengthen military spirit.