Xi's military thinking, Party's 'absolute' leadership over army written into CPC Constitution

A flag guard formation consisting of officers and soldiers from the army, air force, navy and rocket force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) attends a military parade to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the PLA at Zhurihe training base in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, July 30, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING — The Communist Party of China has included Xi Jinping's military thinking and the Party's "absolute" leadership over the armed forces into its Constitution, according to a resolution approved by the 19th CPC National Congress on Tuesday.

According to the resolution, the CPC shall uphold its absolute leadership over the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and other people's armed forces and implement Xi Jinping's thinking on strengthening the military, as part of the amendments to the CPC's fundamental document for its over 89 million members.

The development of the PLA shall be strengthened by enhancing its political loyalty, strengthening it through reform and technology, and running it in accordance with the law, the resolution read.

The CPC shall build people's forces that obey the Party's command, can fight and win, and maintain excellent conduct to ensure that the PLA accomplishes its missions and tasks in the new era, it said.

The inclusion of these statements into the Party Constitution will "help ensure the Party's absolute leadership over the people's armed forces, [and] modernize national defense and the military," it said.

In addition, the amendment to the CPC Constitution also clarified that Chairperson of the Central Military Commission assumes overall responsibility over the work of the Commission and that the CMC is responsible for Party work and political work in the armed forces.

This complies with the realistic requirement to ensure the CMC fulfills its responsibility for Party self-supervision and self-governance after the military reform, the resolution said.