Fifteen J-20 stealth fighter jets gather with soldiers of the People's Liberation Army at a military airport prior to an air show to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. [Photo by Yu Hongchun, courtesy of Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission]

The year 2022 marks the 95th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), and the 95-year period has witnessed the PLA's great journey and splendid achievements. The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012 ushered national defense and military development into a new era. Since then, the CPC Central Committee, with General Secretary Xi Jinping at its core, has been focused on realizing the Chinese Dream and the goal of strengthening the military. Historical achievements have been made in national defense and army building by enhancing the political loyalty of the armed forces, strengthening them through reform, science and technology, and talent cultivation, and running them in accordance with the law, as well as thoroughly bolstering troop training and combat readiness.

Xi Jinping Thought on Strengthening the Military was born after Xi's exploration and innovation in military theories. As an integral part of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, it is the latest outcome of the CPC's military guiding theories and the guideline for the modernization of national defense and the armed forces. It improves the development of Marxist military theories in modern China and paves the way for a powerful and invincible army. Fundamentally, the historical achievements made in strengthening China's national defense and armed forces in the new era lie in the solid leadership of Xi, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and the adherence to Xi Jinping Thought on Strengthening the Military as a scientific guideline. Under its guidance, a new chapter of a stronger PLA with Chinese characteristics was written by the heroic army, demonstrating the splendor of the new era.