1st Ld: China's Xi calls for closer civil-military integration to boost army combativeness

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday called to strengthen China's national defense and the combativeness of its armed forces, by greater civil-military integration.

Xi, also chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks while joining a plenary meeting of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) delegation at the ongoing legislative session.

The armed forces should fully implement the strategic layout of "Four Comprehensives" and the development strategy of civil-military integration in order to break new grounds in the PLA's capability building, Xi said.

The "Four Comprehensives," a political concept unveiled by Xi last year which was elevated as a main theme of this year's parliamentary session, refers to comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society, deepening reform, advancing the rule of law and strictly governing the Party.

Xi noted that over the past year, the PLA had redoubled efforts to carry out real combat-like military trainings, improve the Party's work style and fight corruption, and to contemplate advancing military reforms. Remarkable achievements have been made in the PLA's capacity-building.

For a long time, Xi said, China has witnessed synchronized development in its economic and national defense capabilities thanks to civil-military integration.

But the president acknowledged that the implementation of the key national strategy remained at a preliminary phase, pointing to problems emerged in the process, such as the lack of top-level coordination, lax implementation among others.

Efforts must be made to ensure "coordinated, balanced and compatible development" of the country's economic and national defense capabilities, he said. Endi