Strategic guidance for military struggle in the new era

In July 2019, the white paper "China’s National Defense in the New Era" was published. In this comprehensive national defense white paper, China’s defensive national defense policy system in the new era is constructed for the first time, and it is clearly stated that "implementing the military strategic policy in the new era is the strategic guidance for China’s national defense in the new era". Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi has always firmly grasped the fundamental goal of serving the Party and the country, made military means as a means to guarantee the realization of great dreams and military struggle as an important aspect of great struggle, kept pace with the times, innovated military strategic guidance, established a general program to take charge of the construction and application of military forces, and led the national defense and army building, reform and military struggle preparations in the new era to achieve many landmark, groundbreaking and historic achievements.

Give new meaning to the strategic thought of active defense.

The strategic thinking of active defense is the basic point of our party’s military strategic thinking. In the long-term revolutionary war practice, the people’s army has formed a set of active defensive strategic ideas. After the founding of New China, the CPC Central Committee and the Central Military Commission made several major adjustments to the military strategic policy according to the development and changes of the national security situation. Although the contents of the military strategic policy have changed in different periods, the basic idea of active defense has never changed. We insist on the unity of strategic defense and offensive in campaigns and battles, the principle of defense, self-defense and taking the initiative after the enemy, and the principle of "if people don’t attack me, I won’t attack; If people commit crimes against me, I will commit crimes. " Scientific and accurate military strategy is the greatest chance of winning. Along the way, our army has always been invincible and invincible, and it is very important to adhere to the strategic thinking of active defense.

We must unswervingly adhere to the strategic thinking of active defense in the new era. President Xi pointed out that adhering to active defense is a conclusion drawn from summing up historical experience and scientifically judging reality and the future, and it is by no means an expedient measure, so we should stick to it firmly. Strategically, always insisting on active defense is fundamentally determined by the socialist nature of our country and the fundamental interests of the country. China is a socialist country, taking the road of peaceful development, adhering to an independent foreign policy of peace and pursuing a defensive national defense policy, and will not invade other countries; As a developing country, China has been facing arduous and arduous economic construction tasks and needs a peaceful and stable external environment. The Chinese nation is a peace-loving nation. There is no gene in the blood of the Chinese nation to invade others and dominate the country. The people of China have never bullied, oppressed or enslaved people of other countries, and there has never been, is not and will never be. Under the new era conditions, we adhere to the strategic thinking of active defense, fully demonstrate China’s defensive national defense policy stance, and show that China will never take the old road of "a strong country will dominate", which is conducive to winning wider international recognition and creating a more favorable strategic environment for realizing the strategic goal of national development.

The vitality of military strategic guidance lies in changing with the times and moving according to the situation. Since its birth, the strategic thought of active defense has always developed with the development of military practice, constantly enriching its connotation. Now, we are closer to the goal of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation than ever before, and we have unprecedented ability and confidence to achieve this goal. However, we must see that we are carrying out a great struggle with many new historical characteristics, and we will inevitably face various major challenges, major risks, major obstacles and major contradictions in our progress. President Xi profoundly grasped the new situation of China’s national security, scientifically judged the characteristics and trends of military struggle in the new era, and made it clear that active defense lies in defense and the essence is active. Emphasize strengthening the aggressiveness and initiative of military strategic guidance, make a fuss about the word "positive", further broaden strategic vision, update strategic thinking, move forward the focus of guidance, and expand the depth of active defense strategy; Positive is not eager to seek success, impatient and rash, but the unity of strategic enterprising and tactical steady and steady, which is steady and promising; Actively adapt to the transformation of the basic point of military struggle preparation, intensify military innovation, and strive to raise military struggle preparation to a new level. These important expositions have focused on answering the most fundamental and crucial questions of military strategy in the new era, and made clear the direction and focus for our army to carry out diversified military tasks in a broader space. In recent years, under the strong guidance of the supreme leader’s military strategic thinking, the focus of our army’s work has been increasingly righted, and the "accumulated disadvantages of peace" have been effectively corrected, and the construction direction has focused more on actual combat.All-round incited innovation and development in all fields of war, construction and equipment. In particular, with firm will and flexible tactics, the whole army effectively responded to the external military provocation and pressure, designated the East China Sea air defense identification zone, used powerful actions to deter the "Taiwan independence" separatist acts, actively and steadily handled sensitive events in surrounding hot spots, carefully organized border control and maritime rights protection actions, effectively carried out major tasks such as anti-terrorism, maintaining stability, peacekeeping escort, etc., promoted the historical transformation of the military struggle pattern, and effectively safeguarded the overall stability of the national strategy.

Innovating our army’s war and operational guidance theory

The essence of military strategy is the general plan of war, and planning and directing war is the core content of innovative strategic guidance. At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and military revolution is accelerating, and science and technology have an increasing impact on military competition and modern warfare. President Xi accurately grasped the changes of science and technology, war and opponents, established new goals and new layout of military struggle, made clear the use of new guidance and strategies by military forces, put forward new measures and requirements for preparing for war, profoundly answered the important questions of what to fight and how to fight in the future, and raised our army’s regular understanding of war guidance to a new height.

Deeply grasp the characteristics, laws and winning mechanism of modern warfare. The freedom to control war comes from understanding the inevitability of war. All the guiding laws of war must develop in accordance with the development of history and the development of war. Judging from the recent local wars and military operations in the world, the information level of modern wars has been continuously improved, and the intelligent characteristics have become increasingly apparent. Various unmanned combat systems have been put into actual combat in large numbers, and the concept, elements and methods of winning wars have undergone major changes. President Xi profoundly pointed out that these changes look dazzling, but there are laws behind them, and the fundamental thing is that the winning mechanism of war has changed. For example, in the form of operations, it is emphasized that modern warfare is the confrontation between systems, and integrated joint operations have become the basic form of operations; In terms of space-time characteristics, it emphasizes the integration of multi-dimensional battlefield space, and the boundaries of strategy, campaign and tactical action tend to be blurred; On the key to winning, emphasizing the right to control information has become the core of winning the comprehensive control of the battlefield and the key to winning the war; In terms of organization and command, it is emphasized that the strategic, joint, timely, professional and accurate requirements of operational command are getting higher and higher, and the operational organization and management are becoming more standardized, streamlined and refined. These important expositions have deepened our understanding of the characteristics and laws of modern warfare, and provided important follow-up for us to grasp the laws of war in today’s world and master the "swimming" of modern warfare.

Constructing the operational theory system with the characteristics of our army. War theory and operational thinking are a powerful traction to strengthen actual combat preparation and defeat powerful enemies. During the revolutionary war years, our army was always superior to the enemy in operational theory and tactics, which was an important reason why our army kept moving from victory to victory. In the new era, President Xi focused on the overall situation of national security and development, grasped the revolutionary changes in the form and mode of war, looked forward to the major issues of future wars, and put forward a series of innovative operational ideas. For example, the concept of strengthening information leading, system support, elite combat and joint victory is put forward, and various combat forces, combat units and combat elements are integrated into an organic whole to improve the joint combat capability and global combat capability based on the network information system; Put forward to adhere to flexibility, mobility, autonomy, and focus on giving full play to our advantages in order to be able to fight; It is proposed to grasp the new characteristics and requirements of the people’s war under the new era conditions, innovate the content and methods, and give full play to the overall power of the people’s war. These important expositions adhere to and carry forward the essence of our army’s consistent military thinking, conform to the evolution trend of war forms, meet the actual requirements of combat effectiveness construction and development, and provide principle guidance for our army to carry out combat tasks.

Advance preparations for military struggle based on the most difficult and complicated situation. Preparation for military struggle is the basic practical activity of the army. The more fully prepared, the more active it will be strategically. In the summer and autumn of 2018, the Central Military Commission used three months to pull the various services and arms and the armed police forces distributed in the 5 th World War Zone to prepare for the whole system, covering 21 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) and parts of the East China Sea and South China Sea. This is a microcosm of the whole army’s in-depth preparations for military struggle in the new era. "It is better to be prepared than to fight, not to fight unprepared." President Xi repeatedly stressed that the whole army should establish the idea of being ready for war at any time, and firmly grasp the preparations for military struggle, and never relax for a moment. Require the whole army to persist in fighting, preparing for war and building, make overall plans to promote preparations for military struggle in all directions and fields, and be ready to deal with all kinds of complicated and difficult situations at any time; Put the daily combat readiness work at a strategic height, adhere to the integration of peacetime and wartime, and maintain a high alert posture that is on the line and is ready to go; Promote actual combat training, closely follow the combat tasks, opponents and combat environment, and strengthen targeted, inspection and confrontational training. These important expositions reflect deep strategic worries and strong bottom-line thinking, deepen the regular understanding of how to prepare for war and how to train troops in a peaceful environment, and point out the way for the army to generate and improve its combat effectiveness and master the initiative in military struggle.

Enrich and develop our party’s art of commanding military struggle.

President Xi insisted on examining the war and military issues with the Marxist concept of war, enriched and developed our Party’s military dialectics thought, and applied it to the practice of guiding the actual military struggle, showing the strategic operation with the overall situation in mind, the strategic courage without fear of risks, and the strategic wisdom of winning by the enemy, opening up a new realm of strategic guidance for the people’s army in the new era.

Adhere to the military obeying politics and the strategy obeying politics. War is the continuation of politics, and dealing with the relationship between war and politics is related to the fate of the country. At present, the military and politics are more closely linked, the relevance and integrity at the strategic level are increasing, and the influence and restriction of political factors on the war are becoming more and more prominent. President Xi profoundly pointed out that in planning and directing war, we must deeply understand the political nature of war and think about war from a political perspective. It is emphasized that it is necessary to maintain strategic sobriety, strengthen strategic determination, and understand and plan the war issue with the great goal of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation; We must have both a military mind and a political mind. Whether to fight or not, when to fight, how to fight, and to what extent, we must obey and serve politics. We must always obey and serve the highest interests of the country and the nation, strengthen political awareness, overall awareness and command awareness, be good at planning military actions with an eye on the overall situation of national politics and diplomacy and national security strategy, and ensure political and strategic initiative.

Adhere to the overall operational struggle, preparation and construction. "If there is a literary person, there must be military equipment." President Xi profoundly summed up the historical lessons that China was ravaged by the wars of the great powers after modern times, revealed the dialectics of war and peace, and pointed out that only by fighting can we stop the war, and only when we are ready to fight may we not have to fight, and the more we can’t fight, the more likely we will be beaten. Emphasize that we don’t want to fight, but only if we are prepared, have strong military strength and have the ability to win, can we strategically defeat the enemy without fighting and achieve the goal of "stopping the war by force"; It is necessary to prepare for war and stop war, deterrence and actual combat, war action and the use of military power in peacetime as a whole, and give full play to the strategic function of military power. In today’s world, the cold war mentality and power politics are lingering, and traditional and non-traditional security threats emerge one after another. Some countries try to expand their military alliances to seek absolute security, coerce other countries to choose sides to create camp confrontation, and ignore the rights and interests of other countries to be self-centered. It is still a good wish of people to cast swords into plowshares. Practice has proved that peace must be backed by strong strength. We must keep a close eye on our strong enemies, step up forging stronger capabilities and more reliable means, give full play to our military’s strategic functions of shaping the situation, controlling the crisis, containing the war and winning the war, and resolutely defend national sovereignty, security and development interests.

Adhere to the unity of the firmness of the principle of struggle and the flexibility of strategy. Struggle is an art, which is about will, determination and belief, compared with strategy, wisdom and method. In leading the great struggle, President Xi always insisted on strengthening the sense of hardship and maintaining the unity of strategic determination, strategic judgment and tactical decision, and the unity of struggle process and struggle effectiveness, demanding that our army should not only dare to struggle, but also be good at it. Emphasize that on the issue of principle, we must be tit-for-tat, fight for every inch of land, dare to take the initiative, dare to attack, dare to fight and win in the face of various provocations, don’t bow before difficulties, don’t shrink from challenges, and don’t make deals with principles; Be flexible in strategic issues, adhere to rational, beneficial and restrained methods and art of struggle. Practice has proved that the more complicated the struggle situation is, the more we should make good use of the military skill step by step and strategically. We must focus on stabilizing the overall situation and controlling risks, adhere to the principle of combining rigidity with flexibility, taking multiple measures and making comprehensive policies, strengthen the coordination and cooperation between military actions and political and diplomatic actions, and form an overall synergy in the struggle.

Adhere to the combination of overall planning and highlighting key points. The key to strategic operation lies in looking at the overall situation and taking advantage of the situation. China’s geo-strategic environment is complex, with the largest number of neighboring countries in the world. Based on the new situation facing China’s security and development, President Xi not only insists on overall planning to ensure the overall stability of the strategy, but also focuses on the key points, grasps the strategic hub of the overall situation, and enhances the balance and three-dimensional nature of the strategic layout. It is emphasized that according to the security threats and the strategic tasks of our army, we should build a strategic deployment and military situation with overall planning, regional responsibility, mutual coordination and integration. Highlight preparations for military struggle at sea, effectively control major crises, and properly deal with chain reactions; Make overall plans to advance preparations for military struggles in traditional and new security fields, and actively respond to new security threats and challenges. At present, the sudden, linkage and variability threats to China’s security have greatly increased. We must grasp the direction, take the overall situation into account, make overall plans, firmly grasp the main contradictions and major aspects of military struggle, ensure overall strategic stability, and create a favorable strategic situation for us.

On the new journey, we are faced with the complexity and severity of the situation and environment, the heaviness and arduousness of shouldering tasks that are rare in the world and in history. The people’s army must shoulder the important task of supporting the Chinese nation to move towards great rejuvenation. The whole army should set up the military strategic thinking, the military strategic policy, the baton for preparing for war and the responsibility for preparing for war. We must vigorously carry forward the spirit of struggle, cultivate the fighting spirit of not being afraid of hardship and not being afraid of death, strengthen the determination and will to fight at a critical moment, and always have the character, integrity and courage of not believing in evil, not afraid of ghosts and not being a coward. We must constantly enhance our fighting skills, pay attention to tempering our actual combat ability in arduous and rigorous training, actively innovate the strategic tactics and tactics that are superior to the enemy, pay close attention to building a strong system support for joint operations, forge elite troops who can come at the call, fight when they come, and win the war, and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests.