Following is the text of Jiang Zemin’s speech:[1]
“This enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission (CMC) is a very important one held by the new Central Military Commission after the 14th CPC (Communist Party of China) National Congress. The purpose of this meeting is to study and implement the guiding principles of the Party’s 14th National Congress and Comrade Deng Xiaoping’s thoughts on building the armed forces in the new period, study the military strategic guidelines we need to define in the new international situation, and plan the work of the armed forces for this year. After the 14th CPC National Congress, the CMC and the general headquarters conducted several studies on the issue of military strategic guidelines. Today, I will speak on behalf of the CMC.
“I. The International Situation
“The world today is in a historical period of great changes. Generally speaking, the current international situation is favorable to China’s development.
“First, it is possible to strive for a peaceful international environment and avoid a new world war for a long time to come. This is a very important strategic judgment and a major prerequisite for us to concentrate on economic development. As we all know, the contradiction between war and peace and their mutual transformation depend on the contrast and rise and fall of the two forces. As early as the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, Comrade Deng Xiaoping, with his foresight and prudence as a strategist, creatively applied the Marxist standpoint, viewpoint and method to accurately draw the line between the two forces of war and peace, and scientifically predicted the development trend of the international situation by dialectically examining the contradictory movements between the two forces. He pointed out that hegemonism is the root cause of war in modern times, and put forward the famous argument that war can be postponed if we do our job well, although the danger of war exists. At that time, Comrade Deng Xiaoping made this judgment on the general basis that ‘the growth of the forces for peace in the world exceeds the growth of the forces for war.’ At the same time, he also incisively clarified who to rely on, who to unite with and who to oppose in the efforts to prevent war and maintain peace. Now, looking back, Comrade Deng Xiaoping was indeed far-sighted. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the bipolar world, we have a better understanding of Comrade Deng Xiaoping’s basic assessment. The world is moving towards multi-polarity. There are more checks and balances in the world and more forces for peace.