Core values to guide new missions

The Chinese army, opening up to the outside world to a historic degree, has adopted a new mindset to strengthen loyalty to its core values.

"All servicemen should strengthen their spiritual pillar and foster the core values, including being loyal to the Party, loving the people, serving the nation, being devoted to the mission, and worshiping credit," said President Hu Jintao, who is also the chairman of the Central Military Commission.

"New historic conditions have required the army to hold on to these core military values after years of practice and have given new meaning to these values today," Hu told the army in a keynote speech last month.

There is no sealed-off camp in an open world, the Chinese army likes to say. The world is watching closely as the Chinese army enters the international arena along with the country's growing status as a stakeholder in sharing global responsibilities.

These factors require the army to remain unshaken amid disturbances and adhere to the key principles of the Chinese servicemen in a changing world, military analysts said.

"China, growing increasingly open, is now at a crucial period. The army is a key support on this journey, and a solid political position will set the tone for the army," said Gong Fangbin, a senior researcher with the Academy of Military Science in Beijing.

Last year, with more peacekeeping troops from China carrying out tasks assigned by the United Nations worldwide, as well as a navy fleet that traveled a historic 5,000-nautical-mile distance from Chinese soil to the Gulf of Aden, joining a global campaign against piracy, the Chinese army drew the world's attention.

This year, with the 60th anniversaries of both the Chinese Navy and the Chinese Air Force around the corner and a long-awaited army parade of all branches of the armed forces on Oct 1, the 60th anniversary of the nation's founding, the Chinese army will attract worldwide attention.

These key values, already being studied by all army units nationwide, are consistent with the key traditions of the PLA, founded in 1927 during the revolution of contemporary China, analysts said.

The core values reflect an integration of the Chinese army's good traditions, said Gong.

"It has been the most important belief since the army's founding that soldiers should serve the people wholeheartedly and put people's interests above everything," said Huang Weiwen, an officer with the Jinggangshan branch of the armed police corps in Jiangxi province.

Gong singled out the army's hard work, even sacrifice, during the worst snowstorm in 50 years last winter and the disastrous earthquake that shook the nation last year.

(China Daily 02/04/2009 page10)