RULING ARMY BY LAW
"Ruling the army by law and strictly managing troops is a fundamental principle of a strong military," said Xi, who has spearheaded the high-profile campaign to root out corruption, vested interests, bureaucracy and extravagance in the PLA.
Actually, China has made weeding out corruption in the military a major goal, as it had the potential to undermine troop's ability to fight in war.
Several senior military officers, including Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou, both former vice chairmen of the CMC, and dozens of high ranking officers have been felled by the countercorruption drive over the past three years.
Violators have been discovered thanks to inspections that began in October 2013. The whole army had been inspected by the end of 2015.
Meanwhile, various campaigns were launched to clean up the undesirable work styles of formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance.
Statistics show that more than 9,600 homes were returned to authorities in 2015 after officers were found to have more properties than was deemed necessary. During the same period, the military's fleet of official vehicles was markedly reduced by 24,900.
The efforts are paying off, and the military budget is now managed much more efficiently.
ENHANCED CIVIL-MILITARY INTEGRATION
Xi has stressed the importance of civil-military integration on several occasions, describing coordination between economic development and national defense as mutually beneficial.
The integration, which is integral to realizing the dream of a strong army, picked up speed in March 2014 when it was upgraded to a national strategy.
In May 2014, the first "military and civilian integration forum" released around 200 items on weapon procurement, attracting more than 100 private enterprises and scores of cooperation agreements were inked.
The following year, a website on military weapon procurement was launched to help private enterprises and military industry groups gain information in an easier way. [ Research cooperation has deepened between the army and civilian universities, and in the meantime, great strides have been made in the way the military uses civilian facilities.
For instance, in May 2014, various military aircraft, including third-generation fighter jets, conducted successful take-offs and landings on expressways for the first time.
