Xi stresses PLA's political loyalty at crucial meeting held in old revolutionary base

Yanaan (China): Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasised the armed forces' political loyalty at a crucial meeting on the political work in the military held in Yan'an, an old revolutionary base in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Xi, also the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), demanded efforts to ensure a solid political guarantee for building a strong military, as he addressed the CMC Political Work Conference, held from Monday to Wednesday, reported Xinhua news agency.

The Yan'an conference, which Xi personally decided to convene, took place 10 years after a similar meeting was held in Gutian, east China's Fujian Province. The participants discussed and made arrangements for promoting political work in the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

Xi emphasized the need to uphold the Party's absolute leadership over the military and to build a high-quality cadre team that is loyal, clean, responsible, and capable of fulfilling the mission of strengthening the military.

On Monday afternoon, Xi led CMC members and heads of various departments and units to visit the revolutionary relics at Wangjiaping, where the CMC's headquarters were stationed from August 1937 to March 1947.

Xi visited the former residences of late revolutionary leaders including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Zhu De in Yan'an to honor the memory of their revolutionary struggle.

The Yan'an conference marks a return to the roots of the military, Xi said.

He called on senior military officials to shoulder the responsibilities entrusted by the Party and the people to keep strengthening the armed forces.