The flag raising ceremony during the military parade at Zhurihe training base in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region Sunday, July 30, 2017. (Photo/Xinhua)
On the 90th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army on Tuesday, President Xi Jinping delivered a speech on its historical contributions, development and the necessity of further reform.
What the PLA has accomplished over the past 90 years can be boiled down to its indispensability to the founding of the People's Republic of China, the irreplaceable role it has played in guaranteeing a peaceful environment for the republic's economic development and social progress and the contributions it has made to maintaining world peace.
Without a strong military, it would have been unimaginable for China to achieve what it has and make the contributions it has to the overall development of the global economy.
And it should go without saying that the country needs a strong and modern military to counter any aggression and to defend its sovereignty and territory integrity.
Just as President Xi said in his speech, Chinese people treasure peace and will never wage a war of aggression, but they will never allow any of its territory to be scraped away, in any form, at any time.
To guarantee it never has to swallow this bitter pill and ensure it can counter any aggression, further reform is needed to make its national defense stronger.
Taiwan still has to be reunified with the motherland, and some secessionists on the island harbor the intention of making it an "independent" country, and there are also the threats of terrorism and extremism.
To counter these threats and safeguard the country's sovereignty, security and development interests, the military needs further reform so that it is not only ready to fight but also able to win.
A founding member of the United Nations and a permanent member of its Security Council, China has also become increasingly involved in the UN's global peacekeeping operations as its capabilities have developed. In recent years, the PLA has undertaken a growing number of peacekeeping and anti-piracy missions, and the number of troops China has contributed to such missions is more than any other Security Council member.
But to do a better job of fulfilling its UN obligations, China needs further reform to modernize its military.
As the PLA celebrates its 90th anniversary, the contributions it has made to a politically stable and economically prosperous China can never be overestimated, and its efforts to better shoulder its international responsibilities should be welcomed.
