Xi orders PLA to intensify combat awareness

（Xinhua）  08:12, December 13, 2012

GUANGZHOU, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Xi Jinping has ordered the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to intensify its "real combat" awareness in order to sustain military readiness.

According to a press release issued by military authorities on Wednesday, Xi made the remarks during an inspection conducted from Dec. 8 to 10 at the PLA's Guangzhou military theater of operations, a term usually used to emphasize the coordination and joint operations by forces in air, land and sea.

By chairing the CPC Central Military Commission (CMC), Xi is also the commander-in-chief of China's armed forces, which, with 2.3 million enlisted personnel, is the largest in the world.

Xi asked PLA officers and non-commissioned officers to adopt real combat criteria in military training and intensify such awareness among soldiers.

Xi also reaffirmed the PLA's core task of improving its abilities to wage regional wars in the Information Age and conduct diversified military operations.

"Bear in mind that it is the soul of the military to obey the command of the Party without compromise, it is the top priority for the military to be able to combat and win battles, and it is fundamental that the military consolidate itself through governing the troops lawfully and austerely, so as to reinforce its development featuring loyalty to the Party, modernization and standardization," Xi told officers above the division level of the garrison troops in Guangzhou.