President Xi Jinping, who is also chairman of the Central Military
Commission, delivers a speech after listening to reports by Marine Corps
commanders during his inspection of the service's headquarters in
Chaozhou, Guangdong province, on Tuesday.LI GANG/XINHUA
President Xi Jinping urged the Marine Corps of the People's
Liberation Army Navy to turn itself into an elite force that must be
integrated, capable, flexible and fast-responding as he inspected the
service's headquarters in Guangdong province on Tuesday. Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China
Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said
that to achieve this goal, the Marine Corps should fully implement the
Party's military thought and strategies for the new era, study and
explore its own management and operational patterns, speed up its
transformation and improve its combat capability. Xi said that all commanders and officers should conprate on
fostering their troops' combat preparedness and stay on high alert. More
realistic battle training must be carried out to enhance skills and
more efforts should be made to innovate in terms of combat theories,
training methods and task planning, he noted. He stressed that the Marine Corps is an elite amphibious fighting
force that shoulders significant responsibilities in safeguarding
national sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as China's
maritime rights and overseas interests. This was the first time that Xi has visited the Marine Corps, which
is part of the PLA Navy and was overhauled in 2017 during the military
reform launched by the president in late 2015. Xi listened to Marine Corps commanders' reports, watched a
documentary on the unit's development, and watched marines' training
through a teleconference system. He welcomed the achievements made by
the force in its development and operations since its reform in 2017. The president said that the Marine Corps must enhance strategic
planning for its growth and ensure that it can better serve the
country's development, security and military strategies, as well as the
PLA's modernization endeavors, the interservice joint combat system and
the Navy's transformation efforts. It should also explore the right development direction and objectives
and then set clear road maps to accomplish those goals, Xi said. Senior officials of the Marine Corps were also told to boost the
joint operational capability of units in the Marine Corps and with other
services. The chain of command and logistics support network should be
optimized to ensure the force can better cooperate with other elements
in the interservice combat system, Xi said. In addition, the president said that marines must uphold their good
traditions and fighting spirit. He urged commanders to take good care of
their troops and to encourage creativity and innovation. Furthermore, Xi said that, as the COVID-19 pandemic has yet to be
completely eradicated, the military must not relax its anti-virus
measures.
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