Beijing, March 7 Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the PLA on Saturday to enhance political loyalty following the recent purge of the military's top brass, while a senior general called on defence personnel to resolutely obey the Chinese leader's commands.
Meeting a largely condensed delegation of military officials from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the People's Armed Police Force at the National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliament, Xi stressed the need to fully leverage the unique strength of enhancing political loyalty within the military, according to Xinhua news agency.
He also called for concerted efforts to modernize national defense and the armed forces in a steady and sustained manner.
This is Xi's first meeting after the removal of two senior Chinese military officials, including the highest-ranking PLA official, General Zhang Youxia, in January, which was widely seen as a major purge of the PLA in recent history, sending shockwaves through the ranks.
Zhang Youxia was the Vice Chairman of the all-powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), headed by Xi himself.
After his removal, the six-member CMC, which is the overall high command of the Chinese military, has been reduced to two: Xi and General Zhang Shengmin, secretary of the discipline inspection body.
Significantly, Zhang Shengmin, the last remaining General of the six-member CMC, called on the military to resolutely obey the command of Xi during his speech at the current parliament session.
"We must deepen political rectification, improve Communist Party conduct, combat corruption, and strengthen loyalty to the party's core and resolutely obey the command of President Xi Jinping," he said.
Zhang also called for more efforts to improve combat-oriented training and preparedness to safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests.
"It is also necessary to promote high-quality development, strengthen integrated combat capabilities, enhance the development and application of combat capabilities in new domains and new qualities, and improve military governance," Zhang was quoted as saying by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post on Saturday.
Significantly, no military officials from the Politburo of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) attended the current two sessions of the NPC and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which began on March 4.
According to the official website of the NPC, the military delegation attending the two sessions has been condensed from 281 to 243 members, reflecting the series of expulsions of PLA officials in the last few years for corruption and indiscipline.
Besides corruption, the main allegation against the sacked military officials was indiscipline and disobedience of the CPC leadership.
Since he came to power in 2012, Xi has insisted that the military should function under the leadership of the CPC.
Critics say that through the anti-corruption movement, he has consolidated his power, emerging as the core leader of the party, next only to the party founder, Mao Zedong.
Despite the purges, China on Thursday hiked its defense budget to about 1.91 trillion yuan (USD 277 billion), an increase of seven per cent from last year in yuan terms, as part of its efforts to rapidly modernize the armed forces to catch up with the US military.
China, which in the past grew at double digits, has been setting a five per cent target for the GDP in the last three years amid growing domestic and external economic challenges.
This year, the target was lowered to 4.5 to 5 per cent for the first time, which was seen as an acknowledgement that the world's second-largest economy faced headwinds due to stagnating domestic consumption.
