By Li Daguang and Wang Zhe
Chairman Mao Zedong was the principal founder and leader of the people's army. What we call Mao Zedong Thought today is a development of Marxism-Leninism, and military and political ideology by Mao Zedong. The People's Liberation Army, whose history dated back in 1927, is the people's force armed with Mao Zedong Thought.
Till the early 1930s, under the leadership of Mao Zedong and based on China's real situation, the army waged armed struggles in the rural areas where the Kuomintang regime was relatively weak, making it possible to use "rural areas to encircle the cities and finally seizing power in the cities and the whole country".
Under the guidance of Mao Zedong Thought, the people's army has fought bloody battles, and despite suffering losses, forged itself into a force of peace and justice. The Red Army was then forced to make a strategic shift and arrive in northern Shaanxi in triumph after the Long March (1934-36).
During the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), Mao Zedong formulated the policy of forming a Chinese united front against Japanese aggression, while initiating the second cooperation between Kuomintang and the CPC which prompted the whole of the Chinese nation to join the war of resistance against Japanese aggression.
At the 7th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1945, Mao Zedong Thought was established as the guiding ideology of the Party. After the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chiang Kai-shek waged an all-out civil war principally against communists. And Mao Zedong, together with Zhu De and Zhou Enlai, led the military force to fight the superior Kuomintang forces and defeat them one by one.
After the three major campaigns of Liaoshen, Huaihai and Pingjin, and the Yangtze River Crossing campaign, the people's army won a great victory in the War of Liberation under the Party's leadership, facilitating the founding of the People's Republic of China on Oct 1, 1949.
Along the way, the fearless and valorous people's army helped establish a peaceful and people-friendly People's Republic to liberate the toiling masses and achieve equality for all.
Soon after the founding of the People's Republic, the Chinese People's Volunteers force, under Mao Zedong's leadership, launched the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53) to help the Korean people to defend their motherland. The CPV force helped restore peace in Asia after defeating the United States-led aggressors.
Since then, the Chinese military has conducted many self-defense and humanitarian missions, including those across the country's borders, safeguarding peace in the region and beyond. The Chinese Navy has dispatched naval vessels to carry out regular escort operations in the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters, making an important contribution to global peace and stability. The PLA has been forged into a force of peace and justice.
The PLA is a loyal defender of the People's Republic of China, which remains committed to an independent foreign policy of peace and peaceful development. And the PLA has helped implement this policy, and faithfully safeguarded national security.
However, as the PLA approaches the centenary of its founding and pursues its centenary goals, some unscrupulous politicians in other countries are using the internet to spread rumors about the PLA, by claiming that the PLA said, "there will be a war when the army has been established for 100 years". This is a blatant lie, and another attempt to smear China and its military.
The PLA will continue to safeguard national security and China's core interests, and no country or individual should expect the PLA to pull back on that front.
Li Daguang and Wang Zhe are both research fellows at the School of Law, Hainan University, and former military scholars.