Chinese People's Liberation Army celebrates 80th anniversary

A grand rally was held on Wednesday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to mark the 80th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The rally was attended by Premier Wen Jiabao, President Hu Jintao and Former President Jiang Zemin.

In a keynote speech delivered at the meeting, Hu Jintao stressed the importance of the PLA's continued loyalty to the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Xinhua quoted President Hu as saying that "only by putting itself under the CPC leadership has the PLA been able to stay on the right course politically and maintained its strong cohesion and combat effectiveness as well as its vigor and vitality.”

Aug. 1, 1927 is regarded as the founding day for the PLA, as it marks the day armed forces led by the CPC organized an uprising in Nanchang, in east China's Jiangxi Province.

At the rally, President Hu hailed the PLA's contributions to China's liberation cause, socialist construction and reform drives as well as to safeguarding national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, Xinhua writes. Eight decades of development have served to make the army stronger, more modernized and professional, he added.

According to the BBC, the PLA has come a long way from being a guerilla troop to one of the world's most advanced military forces.

Turning to the army's future, President Hu said that modernization of the PLO is vital to the interests of national security and development."By putting in place a comprehensive scientific, technological and industrial structure for national defense, the PLA is increasingly better positioned to defend the nation," Xinhua quotes him as saying.

In order to pay for the modernization of the army, China has increased its military spending by double-digits over the past decade. This year, the military budget is expected to increase by 17.8% to 31 billion euros. Analysts, however, believe that the real spending level is two to three times higher than this published figure, the BBC writes.

Given that the PLA's guiding principles say that obeying the party comes before defending the motherland, the Chinese military is not just a fighting force, but also a political force, the BBC notes.