Xi orders PLA to become ready for 'real combat'

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, has ordered the country's army of 2.3 million to intensify its "real combat" awareness to sustain military readiness.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, inspects PLA units in Guangdong province on Monday. Xi ordered the PLA to intensify its combat awareness in order to sustain military readiness. [Photo/Xinhua]

Xi made the remarks during an inspection conducted from Saturday to Monday at the Guangzhou military theater of operations, a term usually used to emphasize the coordination and joint operations by forces in the air, land and sea, according to a news release issued by military authorities on Wednesday.

Xi also chairs the CPC Central Military Commission, the top decision-making body for China's armed forces.

China's People's Liberation Army, 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 win 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 fight and win battles, and it is fundamental that the military consolidates itself through governing the troops lawfully and austerely," Xi told officers above the division level of the garrison troops in Guangzhou.