Addresssing 7000 PLA personnel during a parade in Hebei, Xi Jinping asked them to fear “neither hardship nor death” as they implemented the Communist party’s orders. He said the military should “create an elite and powerful force that is always ready for the fight, capable of combat and sure to win in order to fulfill the tasks bestowed by the Party and the people in the new era.” In a front-page report, the People's Daily said Xi Jinping's remarks were greeted with "prolonged and thunderous applause.” It said the troops had gathered in 4,000 separate locations across China to hear their commander-in-chief and they vowed to “resolutely obey Chairman Xi’s order”. The state-owned Global Times called it a “landmark” event. It quoted Xu Guangyu, a retired PLA Major General, as saying “This is the first time since the founding of the country that instructions on military training have been directly issued by the chairman of the CMC [Central Military Commission], and it shows that improving combat readiness is now a strategic mission for the Chinese military.”
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