Commander of PLA Eastern Theater Command: Rectify False Combat Readiness, Foster Sense of Urgency for War

Yang Zhibin's article, titled "High-Quality Promotion of Combat Capability Construction Achieves Decisive Progress," published today in "Xuexi Shibao," the official newspaper of the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China, mentioned the above content. Yang Zhibin first emphasized that loyalty to the Party (CPC) is the "political soul of the PLA," and the more thorough the rectification and training, the more "reliable the combat capability construction, and the more confident in strengthening the military and winning wars." He said that the PLA must enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of "ideological cleansing," draw profound lessons from the serious violations of discipline and law by "fallen senior military officials," "accurately target, thoroughly investigate" the ideological contamination of pernicious influences, truly "remove ideological impurities and eradicate wrong concepts from the depths of the soul," and correct deviations in "three views." Yang Zhibin also mentioned that the military holds guns, and there must be no disloyal individuals to the Party, no hiding place for corrupt elements, and the anti-corruption struggle must be unswervingly advanced. He pointed out that "fighting a war starts with fighting falsehoods, training starts with rectifying emptiness, and seeking victory starts with seeking reality." Party committees at all levels of the PLA must truly "establish and implement" "combat effectiveness" as the sole fundamental standard, strictly rectify "false combat readiness that deviates from practical combat orientation," crack down on "all chronic diseases that harm combat effectiveness," and promote combat readiness and fighting to be "strict and practical." Yang Zhibin mentioned that ideological corrosion is more terrifying than the corrosion of guns and cannons. It is necessary to deeply correct "peaceful accumulated弊," and use the current volatile international situation, frequent military conflicts, and especially the severity of real military struggles as living teaching materials to foster a "sense of urgency for war," resolutely prevent spiritual slackness and ideological paralysis, and always maintain a state of high alert, "with arrows on the string, ready to be fired." He said that the PLA should start with education on "establishing and practicing correct political achievements," clearly establish "work orientation, personnel orientation, policy orientation, and public opinion orientation" that are "conducive to combat readiness and fighting," and guide all levels to "truly think about fighting, truly plan for fighting, and truly grasp the preparations for fighting."