Recently, four military regions in Nanjing, Jinan, Chengdu and Guangzhou frequently held military exercises and almost all of the offensive and defensive exercises aimed to snatch beachhead positions and board islands. The frequent exercises were held mainly to implement the annual military training program, but all the military regions have been ready to safeguard China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity at any time, said senior colonel Zhen Zehao, associate professor at Department of Operational Command of the National Defense University in an exclusive interview with People's Daily Online.
About the actual maneuvers aiming to snatch beachhead positions and board islands, Zhen said that these military regions have different actual maneuvers, missions and tasks due to different terrain conditions. For instance, Jinan Military Region has jurisdiction over the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea and Guangzhou Military Region is in charge of the East China Sea and the South China Sea. Therefore, they will put particular emphasis on drills of coastal combat missions and related tasks and contents will be involved in the actual maneuvers.
Zhen also pointed out that not only the actual maneuvers of the four military regions but also all the recent military exercises in other military regions belong to the annual training contents of Chinese military and can be interpreted as the military training transforming from mechanization to informationization in peaceful time. The military exercises embodied Chinese military's experience in weapon equipment, formation system and training results and displayed its gradually enhanced strength of actual combat. Zhen said that military exercises have different training contents: the military regions implement their own missions and annual plans on the one hand and safeguard China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity on the other hand.
Zhen said that the army is a tool for safeguarding national interests. Chinese military has been pursuing the military thoughts of "active defense" and will not take the initiative to expand its territory and invade other countries, but its sacred mission and responsibility of maintaining national sovereignty and territorial integrity must be demonstrated and embodied in a special period.
Zhen also said that the National People's Congress, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Defense have made statements on Japanese government's so-call "nationalization" of the Diaoyu Islands, declaring their hardline attitude. In the practical action, Chinese military has confidence, ability and determination to fulfill the responsibility of defending national sovereignty and territorial integrity through solid training of enhancing the combat level, and it has been ready to fulfill the sacred mission at any time.
