Xi makes meeting with PLA leaders first mission after congress
President addresses CMC meeting a day after he unveils new Communist Party leadership
Chinese President Xi Jinping called on leaders of the People’s Liberation Army to improve its capabilities and strive to become one of the world’s greatest armies, a day after he unveiled the new Communist Party leadership.
Xi was addressing the high-profile meeting on Thursday as he began his second term as chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC).
During the meeting, Xi reiterated his call for the PLA to become one of the world’s greatest armies by 2050, along with other interim goals such as building a modernised army by 2035.
The president also repeated a more pressing task for the PLA – a major upgrade of capabilities, information technology and achieving the goal of military mechanisation by 2020, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
At the meeting were the CMC’s two new vice-chairmen, General Xu Qiliang and General Zhang Youxia, along with outgoing vice-chairman General Fan Changlong.