In the report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), to achieve basic modernization of national defense and the armed forces is critical in delineating "China's overall development objectives for the year 2035"; and achieving the military's centenary goal by the year 2027 is one of the main objectives and tasks for the next five years.
These two arrangements are the historic and strategic requirements put forward by the Party for national defense and military building, based on the overall layout of building a modern and powerful socialist country in an all-round way and on the overall strategy of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Both are significant.
The report to the 20th CPC National Congress reiterated the time schedule and strategic arrangements of achieving basic modernization of national defense and the armed forces, which had been proposed in the report to the 19th CPC National Congress, embodying the requirement to have the modernization of national defense and the armed forces adapted to the national modernization process, and to have the military capability adapted to the national strategic needs.
At the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, the Party historically proposed to achieve the military’s centenary goal and outlined a three-step plan to modernize China’s national defense and the armed force from 2027 to 2035 and then to the mid-21st century.
The report to the 20th CPC National Congress clearly stated that the goals set for the centenary of the PLA should be "achieved on schedule" in the next five years, which demonstrates the Party's firm determination to unswervingly strive to build strong armed forces and build the people's forces into world-class forces on all fronts. This also means that from now on, the pursuit of the centennial military building goals has entered its final stretch of the countdown with limited time and arduous tasks left.
