Comprehensively Raise the Level of National Defense and Military Modernization

Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, National Defense University

国防大学习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究中心

Building a consolidated national defense and a strong military is a goal our Party has persistently pursued. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, Chairman Xi, with the outstanding strategic wisdom of a Marxist politician, thinker, and strategist, has strengthened strategic guidance, clarified strategic arrangements, and made strategic deployments in the great practice of leading national defense and military modernization, clearly marking the target map and roadmap for advancing toward a world-class military. The military works included in Volumes One through Five of *Xi Jinping: The Governance of China* fully present the historical process of comprehensively raising the level of national defense and military modernization under the guidance of Xi Jinping’s thought on strengthening the military. Chairman Xi’s series of important expositions on comprehensively raising the level of national defense and military modernization are rich in content, profound in scope, and rigorous in logic. They further enrich and develop Xi Jinping’s thought on strengthening the military, represent the latest achievements in the Party’s military guiding theory, and provide the fundamental guidance and action guide for winning new victories in national defense and military modernization. We must deeply study and comprehend them, and implement them more resolutely and forcefully.

建设巩固国防和强大军队是我们党孜孜以求的目标。党的十八大以来，习主席以马克思主义政治家、思想家、战略家的卓越战略智慧，在领导国防和军队现代化的伟大实践中，加强战略指导、明确战略安排、作出战略部署，清晰标定出迈向世界一流军队的目标图、路线图。《习近平谈治国理政》第一卷至第五卷收录的军事著作，完整展现了习近平强军思想引领下全面提高国防和军队现代化水平的历史进程。习主席关于全面提高国防和军队现代化水平的一系列重要论述，内涵丰富、博大精深、逻辑严密，进一步丰富和发展了习近平强军思想，是党的军事指导理论的最新成果，为夺取国防和军队现代化新胜利提供了根本遵循和行动指南。我们要深刻学习领悟，更加坚决有力地贯彻落实。

Deeply Comprehend the Far-Reaching Considerations for Comprehensively Raising the Level of National Defense and Military Modernization

深刻领悟全面提高国防和军队现代化水平的深远考量

Devising strategies within the command tent while keeping the overall situation in mind. [1]1 “Devising strategies within the command tent” (运筹帷幄) is a classical Chinese idiom from the *Records of the Grand Historian*, referring to planning military strategy in a command post. Volume Five of *Xi Jinping: The Governance of China* includes several works, such as *Promote New Developments in the Cause of Strengthening the Military with New Strengthening of Military Governance*, *Comprehensively Enhance Strategic Capabilities in Emerging Fields*, and *Implement the Strategy of Political Work in the New Era to Provide a Strong Political Guarantee for the Cause of Strengthening the Military*. These works make a series of decisions and directives with profound historical implications and far-reaching strategic considerations, reflecting our Party’s deep grasp of the objective laws of national defense and military modernization. They hold far-reaching significance for building a world-class military in all respects.

运筹帷幄，胸怀大局。《习近平谈治国理政》第五卷收入的《以军事治理新加强助推强军事业新发展》《全面提升新兴领域战略能力》《贯彻落实新时代政治建军方略，为强军事业提供坚强政治保证》等多篇著作，作出一系列具有深刻历史意蕴、深远战略考量的决策指示，反映了我们党对国防和军队现代化建设客观规律的深刻把握，对于全面建成世界一流军队具有深远意义。

Strategic Planning Integrated into the Chinese-Path Modernization System. “A strong country must have a strong military; only with a strong military can national security be ensured.” In safeguarding national security, military means always serve as the ultimate guarantee, playing a stabilizing role. The process of national defense and military modernization must align with the national modernization process, and military strength must align with the strategic needs of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Without national defense and military modernization, there would be no Chinese-path modernization. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, Chairman Xi has focused on coordinating major relationships such as politics and military affairs, political strategy and military strategy, enriching the country and strengthening the military, preparing for war and preventing war. He has planned and advanced national defense and military modernization within the process of Chinese-path modernization, linking the years 2027, 2035, and the middle of this century to form a new “three-step” strategy for national defense and military modernization. [2]2 The new “three-step” strategy for national defense and military modernization refers to the goals of basically achieving modernization by 2027 (the centenary of the People’s Army), fully achieving modernization by 2035, and building a world-class military by the middle of the 21st century. The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC incorporated national defense and military modernization into the overall strategic framework of Chinese-path modernization and into the overall process of building a modern socialist country. The *Decision* of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC stated: “National defense and military modernization are an important component of Chinese-path modernization.” The *Proposal* of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC further proposed that “a consolidated national defense and a strong military are the strategic support for Chinese-path modernization” and made strategic deployments for advancing national defense and military modernization with high quality. Such strategic planning from the perspective of a grand view of history makes the blueprint for our military’s construction and development over the coming decades clearer and provides an action program for the People’s Army to advance toward a world-class military. Facing the historic task of leapfrog development and advancing toward first-class status, we must accurately grasp the stage-specific characteristics of the next five years, implement targeted policies to resolve bottlenecks and weaknesses on the path to strengthening the military, and lay a solid foundation for basically achieving national defense and military modernization.

纳入中国式现代化体系推进的战略谋划。“强国必须强军，军强才能国安。”维护国家安全，军事手段始终是保底的，是起定海神针作用的。国防和军队现代化进程必须同国家现代化进程相适应，军事实力必须同中华民族伟大复兴的战略需求相适应。没有国防和军队的现代化，就没有中国式现代化。党的十八大以来，习主席注重统筹政治与军事、政略与战略、富国与强军、备战与止战等重大关系，把国防和军队现代化放在中国式现代化进程中谋划推进，贯通2027年、2035年、本世纪中叶，形成国防和军队现代化新“三步走”战略。党的二十大报告把国防和军队现代化纳入中国式现代化战略全局，纳入建设社会主义现代化国家整体进程。党的二十届三中全会《决定》提出：“国防和军队现代化是中国式现代化的重要组成部分。”党的二十届四中全会《建议》进一步提出“巩固国防和强大军队是中国式现代化的战略支撑”，并对高质量推进国防和军队现代化作出战略部署。运用大历史观作出这样的战略擘画，使未来几十年我军建设发展的图景更加清晰，为人民军队向着世界一流军队迈进提供了行动纲领。面对跨越发展、迈向一流的历史重任，必须准确把握未来五年阶段性特征，精准施策破解强军路上的瓶颈弱项，为基本实现国防和军队现代化奠定坚实基础。

The Mission and Responsibility of Achieving the Centenary Goal of the People’s Army. National defense and military modernization is a historical process of continuous development and progress, requiring sustained advancement in stages. From Chairman Xi’s clear proposal during the 32nd collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 19th Central Committee that “advancing toward the centenary goal of the People’s Army is a profound transformation affecting the overall situation of our military’s construction,” to his emphasis in the report of the 20th National Congress that “achieving the centenary goal of the People’s Army on schedule and accelerating the building of the People’s Army into a world-class military are strategic requirements for comprehensively building a modern socialist country,” to his 2024 emphasis during an inspection and慰问 of troops stationed in Tianjin on “firmly grasping the battle to achieve the centenary goal of the People’s Army,” these major strategic designs for national defense and military modernization reflect that achieving the centenary goal of the People’s Army is a crucial step in the new “three-step” strategy for national defense and military modernization, while also providing strategic guidance for achieving the phased objectives and tasks of national defense and military modernization. Engels said: “Time is the army.” [3]3 This quotation from Engels emphasizes the critical importance of time in military affairs. The period of the 15th Five-Year Plan is a critical time for consolidating the foundation and making comprehensive efforts to basically achieve socialist modernization. Our military’s modernization construction must firmly anchor on the centenary goal of the People’s Army, adhere to the unity of time nodes and quality requirements, adhere to the unity of overall planning and key advancement, concentrate efforts on solving deep-seated institutional and mechanistic obstacles that constrain modernization construction, and advance the cause of strengthening the military with better strategies, higher efficiency, and faster speed, achieving leapfrog development in our military’s modernization construction.

实现建军一百年奋斗目标的使命担当。国防和军队现代化是不断发展进步的历史过程，需要分阶段持续推进。从习主席主持十九届中共中央政治局第三十二次集体学习时鲜明提出“推进实现建军一百年奋斗目标，是关系我军建设全局的一场深刻变革”，到在党的二十大报告中强调“如期实现建军一百年奋斗目标，加快把人民军队建成世界一流军队，是全面建设社会主义现代化国家的战略要求”，再到2024年视察慰问驻天津部队时强调要“扭住打好实现建军一百年奋斗目标攻坚战”，这些对国防和军队现代化作出的重大战略设计，反映出实现建军一百年奋斗目标是国防和军队现代化新“三步走”十分紧要的一步，同时为实现国防和军队现代化阶段性目标任务提供了战略引领。恩格斯说：“时间就是军队”。“十五五”时期是基本实现社会主义现代化夯实基础、全面发力的关键时期，我军现代化建设必须扣牢建军一百年奋斗目标，坚持时间节点和质量要求相统一，坚持全局统筹和重点推进相统一，聚力破解制约现代化建设的深层次体制机制障碍，以更优策略、更高效益、更快速度把强军事业向前推进，实现我军现代化建设跨越式发展。

Seizing the Historical Initiative in International Military Competition. Those who observe the situation are wise; those who control the situation are victorious. [4]4 “Those who observe the situation are wise; those who control the situation are victorious” (察势者智，驭势者赢) is a modern adaptation of classical Chinese strategic thought, emphasizing the importance of understanding and mastering trends. Currently, a new round of technological revolution, industrial transformation, and military revolution is entering an accelerated development phase, with the characteristics of changes in technology, warfare, and adversaries becoming increasingly prominent. Chairman Xi has repeatedly emphasized: “If we do not recognize changes, respond to changes, or seek changes, we may fall into strategic passivity, miss development opportunities, or even miss an entire era.” This new military revolution is essentially about seizing strategic initiative. From the perspective of the evolution of warfare forms, modern warfare is accelerating toward informationized warfare, with intelligent warfare already emerging. Changes in the concepts, elements, and methods of winning wars impose more urgent demands on accelerating national defense and military modernization. From the perspective of military development trends, characterized by “information dominance, system support, elite operations, and joint victory,” integrated joint operations based on network information systems have become the basic operational form, with long-range precision, intelligence, stealth, and unmanned systems becoming the era’s markers for weaponry and equipment, also reflecting the development direction of national defense and military modernization. From the perspective of the development of the cause of strengthening the military, our military is striding forward on a new journey of high-quality development, with profound changes in military strength, weaponry and equipment, organizational forms, and many other aspects. However, there are still some bottlenecks and blockages in national defense and military modernization. These urgently require our military to transform, reshape, and achieve leapfrog development, to win the game of strategic competition, and to strive for overtaking on curves or changing lanes to overtake. [5]5 “Overtaking on curves” (弯道超车) and “changing lanes to overtake” (换道超车) are metaphors in Chinese political discourse for achieving leapfrog development by exploiting new opportunities or pathways.

赢得国际军事竞争的历史主动。察势者智，驭势者赢。当前，新一轮科技革命、产业变革、军事革命进入加速发展期，科技之变、战争之变、对手之变的特征愈加突出。习主席反复强调：“如果我们不识变、不应变、不求变，就可能陷入战略被动，错失发展机遇，甚至错过整整一个时代。”这场新军事革命，本质是争夺战略主动权。从战争形态演变看，现代战争加速向信息化战争演进，智能化战争已见端倪，战争制胜观念、制胜要素、制胜方式变化对加快国防和军队现代化提出更加紧迫要求。从军事发展态势看，以“信息主导、体系支撑、精兵作战、联合制胜”为主要特征，基于网络信息体系的一体化联合作战成为基本作战样式，远程精确化、智能化、隐身化、无人化成为武器装备的时代标识，也反映出国防和军队现代化的发展方向。从强军事业发展看，我军正阔步走在高质量发展的新征程上，军事力量、武器装备、组织形态等诸多方面发生深刻变革，国防和军队现代化建设还存在一些堵点卡点问题。这些都迫切需要我军转型重塑、跨越发展，赢得博弈胜算，争取弯道超车、换道超车。

Firmly Grasp the Requirements of the Era for Comprehensively Raising the Level of National Defense and Military Modernization

牢牢把握全面提高国防和军队现代化水平的时代要求

Modernization began in the West, but there is more than one path to achieving it. Based on a profound grasp of the two overall situations, [6]6 “The two overall situations” (两个大局) refers to the overall situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the overall situation of changes unseen in a century in the world. Chairman Xi, in the magnificent practice of steering the great cause of strengthening the country and the military, has made a series of strategic plans and deployments for accelerating national defense and military modernization. Volumes One through Five of *Xi Jinping: The Governance of China* include some representative important expositions on this topic, further clarifying the goals, strategic steps, and basic tasks of national defense and military modernization, leading our military’s modernization onto the “fast track” and pressing the “fast-forward button.”

现代化始于西方，但实现现代化的道路不止一条。习主席基于对两个大局的深刻把握，在领航强国强军伟业的壮阔实践中，对加快国防和军队现代化作出一系列战略谋划和部署。《习近平谈治国理政》第一至五卷，收录了其中一些具有代表性的重要论述，进一步明确了国防和军队现代化的奋斗目标、战略步骤和基本任务，引领我军现代化进入“快车道”、按下“快进键”。

Taking the advancement of political army building as the fundamental guarantee. Party leadership is the fundamental guarantee for advancing Chinese-path modernization, determines the fundamental nature of Chinese-path modernization, and also determines the fundamental nature of national defense and military modernization. In 2014, at the PLA’s Political Work Conference, Chairman Xi proposed “closely focusing on the epochal theme of our military’s political work, strengthening and improving our military’s political work under the new circumstances, and giving full play to the role of political work as the lifeline for strengthening the military and rejuvenating it,” thereby establishing the Party’s grand strategy of political army building on the journey to strengthen the country and the military. Ten years later, at the Central Military Commission’s Political Work Conference, Chairman Xi systematically summarized the historic achievements of political army building in the New Era, concisely encapsulated the connotation and essence of the “ten clarifications,”[7]7 The “ten clarifications” (十个明确) refer to a systematic summary of the theoretical achievements of political army building in the New Era, as articulated by Xi Jinping at the Central Military Commission’s Political Work Conference in 2024. for the first time defined our Party’s theoretical system of political army building, demonstrating the far-sighted planning of integrating politics and military affairs and the superb wisdom of fighting a political-military war, and reflecting the scientific design and systematic deployment of political army building; he put forward the epochal requirements of the “six guarantees,”[8]8 The “six guarantees” (六个确保) are six requirements for political army building, covering the foundation, functions, strength, support, essence, and safeguards of the people’s army. clarifying, from six dimensions—consolidating the foundation and lifeline of the people’s army, its fundamental functions, its source of strength, its key support, its political essence, and its important safeguards—the need to advance political army building without pause and continuously enhance our military’s political advantages under the new conditions of the era; he proposed “six priority tasks to be carried out,”[9]9 The “six priority tasks” (六个方面重点工作) are specific work areas identified by Xi Jinping to address political challenges and contradictions in military construction. effectively resolving how to scientifically respond to the complex and intertwined political tests facing our military and how to handle the deep-seated contradictions and problems of political army building, thereby driving major innovative development in the Party’s thinking on political army building. These new ideas, new viewpoints, and new theses profoundly indicate that strengthening the military must first mean strengthening it politically, and that political strength is the most fundamental strength, requiring the full exertion of the political advantage of the Party’s absolute leadership over the people’s army, so as to forever preserve the people’s army’s nature, purpose, and character.

以推进政治建军为根本保证。党的领导是推进中国式现代化的根本保证，决定中国式现代化的根本性质，也决定国防和军队现代化的根本性质。2014年习主席在全军政治工作会议上提出“紧紧围绕我军政治工作的时代主题，加强和改进新形势下我军政治工作，充分发挥政治工作对强军兴军的生命线作用”，确立了党在强国强军征程中政治建军的大方略。10年后，在中央军委政治工作会议上，习主席系统总结新时代政治建军历史性成就，凝练概括“十个明确”的内涵要义，首次明确了我们党政治建军的理论体系，彰显了一体运筹政治与军事的深谋远虑、打政治军事仗的高超智慧，体现了政治建军的科学设计和体系部署；提出“六个确保”的时代要求，从强固人民军队的根基命脉、根本职能、力量源泉、关键支撑、政治底色、重要保障6个维度，明确了一刻不停推进政治建军，在新的时代条件下不断增强我军政治优势；提出“要抓好6个方面重点工作”，有力破解如何科学应对我军在政治上面临的错综复杂考验、如何处理政治建军的深层次矛盾问题等难题，推动党的政治建军思想实现重大创新发展。这些新思想新观点新论断，深刻昭示了强军首先要在政治上强、政治上强是最根本的强，要求充分发挥党对人民军队绝对领导的政治优势，永葆人民军队性质宗旨本色。

Taking high-level military governance as the strategic lever. Military governance is an important aspect of advancing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, reflecting the strategic requirements for accelerating national defense and military modernization. In the report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC, Chairman Xi first proposed “comprehensively strengthening military governance”; during the seventh collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee, Chairman Xi systematically elaborated on this major proposition, emphasizing “building a modern military governance system, enhancing modern military governance capabilities, and promoting high-quality development of our military through high-level governance”; the “Decision” of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee proposed “improving the military governance system”; the “Proposal” of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee explicitly proposed “advancing the modernization of military governance” and incorporated “continuously deepening political rectification and training”[10]10 “Political rectification and training” (政治整训) refers to a campaign within the PLA to strengthen political discipline, ideological alignment, and organizational integrity, often involving criticism and self-criticism. into it. Looking back at the development process of national defense and military modernization in the New Era, from constructing an indicator system, a standards system, a statistical system, an evaluation system, and a regulatory system to promote high-quality development, to enhancing capabilities in systematic governance, law-based governance, comprehensive governance, and source governance, and building a cross-military-and-civilian work pattern with clear responsibilities, close collaboration, and standardized order, Chairman Xi has always focused on leveraging the strategic function of governance in regulating internal and external relations, standardizing work operations, and improving overall efficiency. Currently, investment in national defense and military construction has increased and the division of labor has become increasingly fine, but the problem of inefficient operation of the military system has not yet been effectively resolved. The new “times” and “trends” require persisting in improving the leadership and management systems and mechanisms of the people’s army, strengthening and improving strategic management, and deeply advancing military rule-of-law construction, concentrating efforts on breaking through the bottlenecks and blockages that constrain high-quality development, improving the operational efficiency of the military system and the utilization efficiency of national defense resources, comprehensively enhancing the “quality” of modernization through the “governance” of modernization, and using the new strengthening of military governance to boost the new development of the cause of strengthening the military.

以高水平军事治理为战略抓手。军事治理是推进国家治理体系和治理能力现代化的重要方面，反映了加快国防和军队现代化的战略要求。在党的二十大报告中，习主席首次提出“全面加强军事治理”；在二十届中共中央政治局第七次集体学习时，习主席对这个重大命题又作了系统阐述，强调“构建现代军事治理体系，提高现代军事治理能力，以高水平治理推动我军高质量发展”；党的二十届三中全会《决定》提出“完善军事治理体系”；党的二十届四中全会《建议》明确提出“推进军事治理现代化”，并把“持续深化政治整训”纳入其中。回望新时代国防和军队现代化发展历程，从构建推动高质量发展的指标体系、标准体系、统计体系、评估体系、监管体系，到增强系统治理、依法治理、综合治理、源头治理本领，构建各司其职、紧密协作、规范有序的跨军地工作格局，习主席始终注重发挥治理调节内外关系、规范工作运行、提升整体效益的战略功能。当前，国防和军队建设投入加大、分工越来越细，但军事系统运行不畅问题尚未得到有效解决。新的“时”与“势”要求坚持完善人民军队领导管理体制机制、加强和改进战略管理、深入推进军队法治建设等，聚力破解制约高质量发展的卡点堵点，提高军事系统运行效能和国防资源使用效益，以现代化之“治”全面提升现代化之“质”，以军事治理新加强助推强军事业新发展。

Taking the acceleration of strategic capability building in emerging domains as the key task. Humanity fights in the same way it produces. Chairman Xi emphasized: “Strategic capabilities in emerging domains are an important component of the national strategic system and capabilities, relating to the high-quality development of our country’s economy and society, relating to national security and the initiative in military struggle, and of great significance for comprehensively advancing the building of a strong country and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization.” Emerging domains currently mainly cover new strategic spaces such as outer space, deep seas, and cyberspace, which are comprehensively reshaping the means of warfare, exhibiting unprecedented transformative and disruptive qualities, and accelerating the evolution of war forms and operational methods. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Chairman Xi coordinated the development of strategic emerging industries and new-type combat forces, effectively promoting the comprehensive enhancement of strategic capabilities in emerging domains. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, we must more firmly and consciously implement Chairman Xi’s decisions and instructions, grasp the key points of development, and fully implement relevant strategies and plans. Update thinking and concepts, closely track the frontiers of emerging science and technology, explore new mechanisms for winning wars, promote the large-scale, combat-oriented, and systematic development of new-domain and new-quality combat forces, lead changes in operational styles, and better control and win wars. Strengthen innovative development, adhere to self-reliance and self-strengthening, take the initiative based on actual conditions, focus on strengthening independent innovation and original innovation, create growth poles for new quality productive forces and new quality combat capabilities, build an innovation ecosystem that is self-reliant, open and integrated, and full of vitality, and promote a dynamic situation of breakthroughs in multiple areas and emergence in clusters. Persist in key breakthroughs, use systematic thinking and a holistic approach, scientifically design the roadmap for enhancing strategic capabilities in emerging domains, deepen the reform of the national defense science, technology, and industry system, optimize the layout of the national defense science, technology, and industry, improve mechanisms for agile response and rapid transformation of advanced technologies, vigorously develop new-type combat forces and means, achieve an overall upgrade of the combat system, and improve the overall effectiveness of development in emerging domains.

以加快新兴领域战略能力建设为重点任务。人类以什么样的方式生产，就以什么样的方式作战。习主席强调：“新兴领域战略能力是国家战略体系和能力重要组成部分，关系我国经济社会高质量发展，关系国家安全和军事斗争主动，对以中国式现代化全面推进强国建设、民族复兴伟业具有重要意义。”新兴领域目前主要涵盖太空、深海、网络等新型战略空间，正在全面重塑作战手段，展现出空前变革性与颠覆性，推动战争形态与作战方式加速演变。“十四五”时期，习主席统筹推进战略性新兴产业和新型作战力量发展，有力推动新兴领域战略能力的全面提升。“十五五”时期，我们要更加坚定自觉贯彻习主席决策指示，扭住发展重点，全面落实有关战略和规划。更新思维理念，紧盯新兴科技发展前沿，探究战争制胜新机理，推进新域新质作战力量规模化、实战化、体系化发展，引领作战样式变革，更好地驾驭战争、打赢战争。加强创新发展，坚持自立自强，以我为主，从实际出发，聚力加强自主创新、原始创新，打造新质生产力和新质战斗力增长极，构建自主自强、开放融合、充满活力的创新生态，推动形成多点突破、群体迸发的生动局面。坚持重点突破，运用系统思维、统筹兼顾的方法，科学设计新兴领域战略能力提升路线图，深化国防科技工业体制改革，优化国防科技工业布局，健全先进技术敏捷响应、快速转化机制，大力发展新型作战力量和手段，实现作战体系整体升级，提高新兴领域发展整体效益。

Taking the integrated development of mechanization, informatization, and intelligentization as the realization path. National defense and military modernization is dynamic and developmental, with different goals and requirements at different stages. In the 1950s, our military proposed achieving mechanization, and New China gradually established a defense industry. Since the 1990s, it has proposed building an informatized military and winning informatized wars to adapt to the trend of informatization development. The report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC emphasized “adhering to the integrated development of mechanization, informatization, and intelligentization,” endowing national defense and military modernization with new epochal connotations, requiring mechanization as the foundation, informatization as the leading factor, and intelligentization as the direction, and clarifying the development direction, path, and model. Taking mechanization as the foundation means advancing toward a higher level and more comprehensive mechanization, providing a material foundation and strong support for informatization and intelligentization development; taking informatization as the leading factor means developing informatized weaponry and equipment, improving the organizational structure and staffing of an informatized military, building informatized logistics support and national defense mobilization, and cultivating new-type personnel with informatization literacy; taking intelligentization as the direction means intensifying research on core military intelligent technologies, key hardware and software, and basic theories, innovating intelligent operational thinking and operational concepts, and building an intelligent military system with our military’s characteristics. Mechanization, informatization, and intelligentization promote each other. It is necessary to focus on the new requirements for winning modern wars, develop highly developed mechanization and higher-level informatization, accelerate the process of intelligentization, achieve a shift from sequential development to integrated advancement, and lead the transformation and upgrading of national defense and military modernization.

以机械化信息化智能化融合发展为实现路径。国防和军队现代化是动态的、发展的，不同阶段有不同的目标要求。我军20世纪50年代提出实现机械化，新中国逐步建立国防工业。20世纪90年代以来，提出建设信息化军队、打赢信息化战争，以适应信息化发展趋势。党的二十大报告强调“坚持机械化信息化智能化融合发展”，赋予了国防和军队现代化新的时代内涵，要求以机械化为基础、信息化为主导、智能化为方向，明确了发展方向、发展路子、发展模式。以机械化为基础，就是要向更高水平、更加全面的机械化推进，为信息化、智能化发展提供物质基础和有力支撑；以信息化为主导，就是要发展信息化武器装备、完善信息化军队体制编制、打造信息化后装保障与国防动员、培养具备信息化素养的新型人才；以智能化为方向，就是要加强军事智能核心技术、关键软硬件和基础理论攻关，创新智能化作战思想和作战概念，构建具有我军特色的智能化军事体系。机械化、信息化、智能化相互促进。必须着眼打赢现代战争的新要求，发展高度发达的机械化、更高水平的信息化，加快推进智能化进程，实现由梯次发展走向融合并进，引领国防和军队现代化转型升级。

Accelerating national defense and military modernization in high-quality development

在高质量发展中加快推进国防和军队现代化

The heroic people’s army is striding forward toward world-class status with an unstoppable momentum. Chairman Xi pointed out: “The current period and the period ahead are critical for national defense and military modernization. There must be a major development, and there are fully the conditions to achieve a major development.” Repeatedly studying the military works included in the fifth volume of *Xi Jinping: The Governance of China*, we can profoundly understand from them that accelerating national defense and military modernization is a major political task and a complex systemic project. It must be guided and advanced by the military outlook and methodology contained in Xi Jinping’s thinking on strengthening the military, adhere to high-quality development, promote the improvement of quality and efficiency in all aspects of our military’s construction during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, and achieve a new leap in national defense strength through new development achievements.

英雄的人民军队正以不可阻挡之势昂首阔步迈向世界一流。习主席指出：“当前和今后一个时期是国防和军队现代化的关键时期，必须有一个大的发展，也完全有条件实现大的发展。”反复研读《习近平谈治国理政》第五卷收录的军事著作，我们能从中深刻领悟到加快国防和军队现代化是重大政治任务和复杂系统工程，必须用习近平强军思想蕴含的军事观和方法论来指导推进，坚持高质量发展，推动“十五五”时期我军各项建设提质增效，以新的发展成就实现国防实力新的跃升。

Actively integrate into the overall situation of building a strong country and rejuvenating the nation. At present, global security issues are prominent, unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise, major-power competition has become more complex and intense, and China faces numerous external risks and challenges. President Xi, with a broad strategic vision, coordinates the two overall situations [11]11 The "two overall situations" refer to the overall situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the overall situation of changes unseen in a century in the world., placing the building of national defense and the armed forces under the overarching goal of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation for understanding and advancement, and takes building a strong country and rejuvenating the nation as the strategic core and fundamental point of departure for planning a strong military and a powerful army. The period of the 15th Five-Year Plan [12]12 The 15th Five-Year Plan covers the period 2026–2030. holds an important position as a link between the past and the future in the process of basically realizing socialist modernization. This requires that we, with a broad perspective and strategic vision, resolutely serve and obey the overall strategic situation of the Party and the state, consistently adhere to principled requirements, uphold fundamental principles and break new ground to optimize the strategic layout, accurately grasp the phased requirements for national defense and military modernization in the next five years, coordinate and advance the key tasks of national defense and military modernization, and promote the simultaneous enhancement of national defense strength and economic strength.

主动融入强国建设、民族复兴大局。当前，全球安全问题凸显，单边主义、保护主义抬头，大国博弈更加复杂激烈，我国面临诸多外部风险挑战。习主席以宏阔战略视野统筹两个大局，把国防和军队建设放在实现中华民族伟大复兴这个大目标下认识和推进，把强国建设、民族复兴作为战略核心点和根本着眼点谋划强军兴军。“十五五”时期在基本实现社会主义现代化进程中具有承前启后的重要地位。这就要求我们必须以宽广的视野和战略眼光，坚决服从服务于党和国家战略全局，一以贯之坚守原则要求，守正创新优化战略布局，准确把握未来五年国防和军队现代化的阶段性要求，统筹推进国防和军队现代化的重点任务，促进国防实力和经济实力同步提升。

Fully leverage the driving role of reform and innovation. Reform and innovation are powerful engines for high-quality development of national defense and the armed forces. According to the principle of the contradictory movement between productive forces and relations of production, adjusting unreasonable relations of production can generate new momentum for promoting the development of productive forces. Looking back on the reform and development process of our military, whenever the operation of the military system hindered or constrained the generation and development of combat effectiveness, we have resolutely targeted internal ailments and deep-seated maladies such as conceptual obstacles that deviate from the standard of combat effectiveness, interest entanglements, and management constraints. Comprehensively deepening the reform of national defense and the armed forces is, in essence, an adjustment and reform of the military's "relations of production" and a holistic reshaping of the modernization of military organizational forms, making them more adaptable to the development of "productive forces" under the forms of informationized and intelligent warfare. Reform is always ongoing; there is no finish line. To advance national defense and military modernization with high quality during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, we must keep abreast of world military and war development trends, closely follow our military's modernization process, continuously deepen the reform of national defense and the armed forces, fully accelerate the engine of scientific and technological innovation, promote innovative development of our military's construction model and combat effectiveness generation model, and further shift towards systematic, holistic, and comprehensive innovation.

充分发挥改革创新的驱动作用。改革创新是国防和军队高质量发展的强大动力。根据生产力和生产关系矛盾运动的原理，调整不合理的生产关系，就能产生促进生产力发展的新动力。纵观我军改革发展历程，每当军事系统运行阻碍或制约战斗力生成和发展时，我们就会向背离战斗力标准的观念障碍、利益羁绊、管理束缚等体内病灶、顽瘴痼疾开刀。全面深化国防和军队改革，本质是对军队“生产关系”的调整改革，对军队组织形态现代化的整体重塑，使其更加适应信息化、智能化战争形态下的“生产力”发展。改革只有进行时，没有完成时。高质量推进“十五五”时期国防和军队现代化，必须紧跟世界军事和战争发展趋势，紧贴我军现代化进程，持续深化国防和军队改革，把科技创新的引擎全速发动起来，推动我军建设模式和战斗力生成模式创新发展，进一步向系统性、整体性、全局性创新转变。

Coordinate and advance the integrated construction of combat, preparedness, and construction. Adhering to the simultaneous pursuit of struggle, combat readiness, and construction is a prominent feature of our military in the coming period and an important measure for systematically accelerating the construction and application of advanced combat effectiveness. As the national security situation changes, our military's missions and tasks continue to expand, the boundaries between peacetime and wartime become more blurred, and there is no transition period between struggle, combat readiness, and construction. It is necessary to implement operational requirements in all aspects and throughout the entire process of national defense and military modernization. Promoting the high-quality development of combat, preparedness, and construction as an integrated whole is not only a characteristic and orientation but also a strategy and method, embodying the military dialectics of war and peace, military affairs and politics, struggle and development, and combat readiness and construction. Practice has proven that the military is built according to how wars are fought. The "Proposal" of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Party Central Committee [13]13 The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held in 2024; its "Proposal" refers to the Central Committee's recommendations for formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan. explicitly states: "Deepen strategic and operational planning, solidly advance practical military training, strengthen the integration of operational capability systems, innovate models for building and applying combat effectiveness, and enhance the targeting, initiative, and shaping power of military struggle." At this critical juncture of leapfrog development, we must firmly grasp the fundamental orientation of being able to fight and win wars, further highlight the traction of combat, enhance the efficiency of construction, strengthen the support of preparedness, accelerate the building of advanced combat effectiveness, and provide strong traction for accelerating the modernization of national defense and the armed forces.

统筹抓好战建备一体建设。坚持边斗争、边备战、边建设，是今后一个时期我军的突出特点，也是成体系加快先进战斗力建设和运用的重要举措。随着国家安全形势变化，我军使命任务不断拓展，平时、战时的界限更加模糊，斗争、备战、建设之间没有换挡期，必须把作战要求贯彻到国防和军队现代化各方面和全过程。一体推进战建备高质量发展，既是特点、方位，也是方略、方法，蕴含着战争与和平、军事与政治、斗争与发展、备战与建设的军事辩证法。实践证明，仗怎么打、军队就怎么建。党的二十届四中全会《建议》明确提出：“深化战略和作战筹划，扎实推进实战化军事训练，加强作战能力体系集成，创新战斗力建设和运用模式，增强军事斗争针对性、主动性、塑造力。”在跨越发展的关键当口，必须扭住能打仗、打胜仗这个根本指向，进一步突出战的牵引、提升建的效能、强化备的支撑，加快先进战斗力建设，为加快国防和军队现代化提供有力牵引。

Improve the quality and efficiency of national defense and military modernization. Adhering to quality first and efficiency priority is a consistent thought and requirement of President Xi. The year 2026 marks the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan and is a critical year for winning the tough battle to achieve the centenary goal of military building [14]14 The centenary goal of military building refers to the goal of achieving the modernization of the People's Liberation Army by 2027, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the PLA.. A slow pace of development will not do, and even less acceptable is a lack of high quality and substance in modernization. For the modernization of national defense and the armed forces during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, it is necessary to accelerate the modernization of military theory, optimize the top-level design of military theory innovation, improve the research model of military theory, strengthen the transformation and application of military theory, and implement a project to advance the modernization of military theory. Accelerate the modernization of military organizational forms, improve the structure and composition of military forces, systematically optimize military policies and systems, and strengthen strategic forces and new-domain and new-quality combat forces. Accelerate the modernization of military personnel, use more proactive, dynamic, and effective policy measures to improve the level of education and talent cultivation in military academies, and accelerate the forging of a talent matrix for the military. Accelerate the modernization of military equipment, accelerate the development of strategic, frontier, and disruptive technologies, accelerate the upgrading and replacement of military equipment, and develop more "trump card" weapons and equipment. This requires our military to shift from quantitative growth to qualitative improvement, to propel our military's development from "having or not having" to "good or not good," and from "big or not big" to "strong or not strong," continuously advancing the modernization of national defense and the armed forces.

提高国防和军队现代化质量效益。坚持质量第一、效益优先，是习主席的一贯思想和要求。2026年是“十五五”开局之年，是打好实现建军一百年奋斗目标攻坚战的关键一年，发展速度迟缓不行，现代化质量成色不高更不行。“十五五”时期国防和军队现代化建设，必须加快军事理论现代化，优化军事理论创新顶层设计，改进军事理论研究模式，加强军事理论转化运用，实施军事理论现代化推进工程。加快军队组织形态现代化，完善军事力量结构编成，体系优化军事政策制度，壮大战略力量和新域新质作战力量。加快军事人员现代化，以更加积极有为、更具活力、更为有效的政策举措，提高军队院校办学育人水平，加速锻造军事人才方阵。加快武器装备现代化，加速战略性前沿性颠覆性技术发展，加速武器装备升级换代，研制更多“杀手锏”武器装备。这就要求我军必须从量的增长转向质的提升，推动我军发展从“有没有”转向“好不好”、从“大不大”转向“强不强”，将国防和军队现代化不断推向前进。

(Written by: Wang Qiang, Liu Guangming)

（执笔：王强、刘光明）