1. Active defense is a correct military strategy in line with China's national conditions.
Under the condition that the enemy is strong and we are weak, China's revolutionary war has been in a strategic defensive position for a long historical period. Strategic defense has become the most complicated and important issue in the operations of the people's army. Military adventurism that only emphasizes attack and denies defense, and military conservatism or escapism that only emphasizes defense and denies attack can only lead to the failure of the war. Only active defense is the only correct strategy for the weak people's army to defeat the powerful enemy and finally win the war. The essence of active defense strategy is to dialectically unify attack and defense on the premise of strategic defense. Mainly reflected in the following two aspects: first, through strategic defense and attack in the campaign, strategic persistence and quick decision in the campaign, strategic attack on interior lines and quick decision on exterior lines, the enemy is gradually weakened to achieve the purpose of strategic defense. Second, organically combine strategic defense with strategic counter-offensive and strategic offensive, guide strategic defense to strategic counter-offensive or strategic offensive in time, and engage in a strategic decisive battle with the main enemy under favorable conditions to completely annihilate the enemy. It is in this sense that active defense is also called offensive defense and decisive battle defense.
In different historical periods and strategic stages, the military strategy of active defense has different contents and manifestations. During the Agrarian Revolutionary War, the Red Army carried out initial operations? The enemy advances and I retreat; The enemy is stationed, and I am disturbing; The enemy is tired and I fight; The enemy retreats and I chase? Operating principle. Later, to break the enemy's? Encirclement? Has the Red Army captured it? Lure the enemy deep? Our strategic policy is to carry out flexible guerrilla mobile warfare. During War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression's period, the active defense strategy was manifested in the general policy of protracted war and the implementation of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army? Guerrilla warfare is basic, and mobile warfare under favorable conditions is not relaxed? Policy; What was the core of active defense strategy during the War of Liberation? Give priority to annihilating the Kuomintang's effective forces rather than conservative areas? . In the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, the volunteers carried it out during the strategic counterattack? Mainly mobile warfare, combined with some positional warfare and guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines? Policy; In the strategic defense stage? Long-term combat and active defense? Policy.
After China entered the period of socialist revolution and construction, the PLA's military strategy is still active defense, but the situation and content are quite different. Strategically, the People's Liberation Army's principles of defense, self-defense and enemy first before us have not only focused on the situation that the enemy is strong and we are weak, but are mainly determined by the nature, tasks and foreign policies of socialist countries. Military strategy is not to seize political power, but to safeguard national sovereignty and security and defend the cause of socialist modernization; Military strategic judgment is no longer limited to the comparison of domestic class power, but focuses on the international strategic pattern and the development trend of contemporary military struggle. From 65438 to 0956, the Central Military Commission formulated the first strategic policy in the period of peaceful construction after the founding of New China, that is, the strategic policy of actively defending and defending the motherland. From 1960s to 1970s, mainly due to the rapid deterioration of China's security environment and overestimation of the danger of the outbreak of war, China took the policy of active defense and luring the enemy in-depth, based on the most difficult situation, and prepared for early, hard and nuclear war against the enemy. In the early 1980s, in view of the characteristics of the all-round anti-aggression war in the future, the Central Military Commission established the strategic policy of active defense, and put forward the strategic guidelines of persisting in attacking first and then defending, persisting in the people's war, persisting in continuous fighting, defeating the enemy with inferior equipment, and fighting in the most complicated and difficult circumstances. Although there was no world war and large-scale foreign invasion in the end, the People's Liberation Army successfully carried out many border self-defense operations and accumulated rich experience in implementing the strategic thinking of active defense in modern local wars. Since the mid-1980s, according to Deng Xiaoping's strategic judgment that it is possible not to have a large-scale world war for a long time, the guiding ideology of army building has undergone a strategic shift, that is, from the state of preparing to fight early battles, big battles and nuclear wars to the track of modernization in the spanning period, emphasizing that strategic guidance should be changed from preparing for large-scale enemy invasion to focusing on possible local wars and military conflicts, and putting forward an active defense military strategy that meets the requirements of the situation at that time. In the 1990s, on the basis of a profound understanding of the major changes in the international strategic pattern and profound changes in the military field, the Central Military Commission re-formulated the military strategic policy of active defense in the new period, determined that the basic point of military struggle preparation was to win local wars under modern technology, especially high technology, and realized a new transformation in military strategy.
In the new historical period, China's security situation, national interests, social system, domestic and foreign policies and the objective needs of military struggle and army building determine that China must continue to unswervingly implement the military strategy of active defense. This not only inherits the fine tradition, but also conforms to China's current national conditions and military situation. Even in the future, active defense will remain the fundamental military strategy to solve China's national security problems. Adhering to the military strategy of active defense has long-term and significant guiding significance for the preparation of military struggle in the new period. To implement this military strategy, we need to deal with the following three aspects:
First, the relationship between defense and offense. Active defense is not pure defense, but offensive defense, which is a combination of offensive and defensive. We must be flexible in implementing active defense. Strategic guidance should not only adhere to strategic defense and preemptive strike, but also attach importance to taking active offensive actions and preemptive strikes against the enemy in campaigns and battles; We should not only be prepared for long-term operations, but also strive for quick response and quick decision-making in campaigns and battles, especially in local wars under high-tech conditions. When the conditions for strategic quick decision are met, we must strive for strategic quick decision. Unlike the revolutionary war years, when we insisted on luring the enemy deeper, we eliminated the interior lines first and then the exterior lines. The local wars in New China rely more on the depth of the country to win the wars in the border areas. Different from the situation of preparing for a large-scale invasion of the enemy for a long time on the basis of strategic depth in the past, the strategic guidance of modern local wars focuses on shallow and deep operations in offshore and border areas, and emphasizes deterring the enemy with active offensive actions. Active defense requires a strategic attack from the rear, which is not a sign of weakness. ? What happened afterwards? Is it? People don't attack me, I don't attack? It is conducive to maintaining the initiative in politics and diplomacy. ? Making people? Is it? If people attack me, I will attack? It shows the determination and ability to defend itself and fight back. China will not take the initiative to make trouble, but he will not show weakness. Once the sovereignty and security of the country are violated, China will not hesitate to stick to a just war of self-defense and destroy all invading enemies.
Second, the relationship between containing war and winning war. Containment of war is to use deterrent force in peacetime to try to prevent or delay the outbreak of war militarily and politically. The military strategy of active defense in the new period should not only solve the problem of how to prepare and fight, but also solve the problem of how to effectively contain, avoid and stop the war. We should not only avoid the outbreak of all-out war, but also try our best to prevent local wars and ensure the smooth progress of socialist modernization. According to the needs of national strategy, when necessary, we can use various military deterrent means to cooperate with political and diplomatic struggles, defeat the enemy without fighting, and achieve the purpose of containing the war. Adhering to the fine tradition of the people's war and combining the increasingly modern conventional forces, powerful reserve forces and reliable and effective limited nuclear forces are the basic ways to implement the military strategy of active defense and play a deterrent role. At the same time, we must see that the containment of war is based on the ability to win the war. Only with the winning power can deterrence be effectively implemented. The foothold of China's active defense military strategy has always been to prepare for the war and win the battle. That is, strive for a good result from the worst possibility, and defeat the enemy without fighting with courage and ability, which is the cornerstone of China's deterrence thought.
Third, the relationship between military and politics. The military strategy must be closely coordinated with the politics, diplomacy and economy of the whole country. To carry out the military strategy of active defense, the most fundamental thing is to consider and deal with military issues politically. Modern local wars are greatly restricted by political and diplomatic factors and have strong political and policy characteristics. China's future national defense action is closely related to China's reform, opening up and modernization. Military strategic guidance should have a political mind, a policy concept and a sense of the overall situation, and be good at grasping some major strategic relations. Whether or not to fight militarily, what target to fight, to what extent, when to fight and when to stop, should be comprehensively considered politically and strategically. In the military struggle, we should strictly abide by the position of self-defense, make full preparations, start the war cautiously, act rationally, take favorable actions, restrain actions, and firmly grasp the initiative in the struggle. ? Is it reasonable? Is to adhere to strategic defense, attack the enemy, make a famous teacher and take the initiative in political diplomacy; ? Favorable? It is to seize the favorable opportunity and conditions, resolutely win the war and obtain a favorable military position; ? Have a holiday Is to grasp the duration of military struggle, enough is enough, and end military operations after appropriate victory. Military struggle should actively cooperate with political, diplomatic and economic struggles, safeguard world peace and regional stability, and strive to improve the national security environment.
Second, based on winning local wars under modern technology, especially high technology.
After the end of the Cold War, the trend of multi-polarization in the world continues to develop, and a new world war can be avoided. However, various forms of local wars and armed conflicts still exist, and hegemonism and power politics are the main sources that threaten world peace and stability. A profound change in the military field, led by the development of high-tech weapons, is emerging around the world, which will have a significant and far-reaching impact on war forms, battlefield environment, combat means, command methods and other aspects. China's security environment has been greatly improved, but safeguarding national sovereignty and security is also facing new challenges. Future local wars may face enemies of high-tech weapons and equipment.
In this new situation, the military strategic policy for the new period formulated by the Central Military Commission clearly puts forward that the basic point of military struggle preparation in the new period should be changed from coping with wars under general conditions to winning local wars under modern technology, especially high-tech conditions. All the construction and work of the army should be guided and unified by the military strategic policy in the new period, obey and serve the needs of this strategic policy, make full preparations in all aspects, and ensure the smooth realization of this policy. In order to thoroughly implement the military strategic policy of active defense in the new period, under the guidance of this strategy, we should focus on solving the following problems:
First, the focus has shifted from preparing for total war to preparing for local war. For a long time after the founding of New China, the focus of military strategy has always been to prepare for resisting the large-scale invasion of the enemy, based on face-to-face war. Under the new historical conditions, if we still think and work according to the past concept of total war, and refer to local wars with military strategy based on total war, it will lead to unnecessary waste and loss. This is because, regardless of the preparation and implementation of the war, China's strategic guidance to the total war is obviously different from the local war: the total war is to destroy the enemy in the depth of the country, while the local war focuses on the deep and shallow borders and winning by sea and air; All-round wars should strive to prolong the war, while local wars should emphasize quick decisions as much as possible; Total war usually needs strategic defensive operations at the beginning of the war before it can be transformed into strategic counterattack and attack, while local war may take a limited-scale strategic offensive operation in the form of self-defense counterattack from the beginning; All-round wars need to be fully mobilized, and the whole country should meet the enemy. Local wars should try to avoid the expansion and escalation of wars and reduce the impact on the overall situation of the country. Only by changing the traditional thinking mode of total war can we establish the guiding principles of future war strategy in line with objective reality.
Second, actively explore the characteristics and laws of local wars under high-tech conditions. China has never faced a single style of local wars, but in the future, high-tech or high-tech local wars will be the most threatening and difficult to deal with. Judging from some recent local wars in the world, due to the application of high-tech weapons on the battlefield, the suddenness of the war has increased, the space for direct war has shrunk and the related space has expanded, the pace and process of the war have obviously accelerated, the high transparency and long-range precision strike on the battlefield have changed the traditional combat mode, the status of strategic air strikes has greatly improved, wars, campaigns and battles can sometimes be integrated, the boundaries between the front and the rear are blurred, the operational support is more complicated, and the limited purpose and scale of the war may be very harmful and harmful. To win the future high-tech local war, we must focus on its characteristics and development, seriously study new situations, solve new problems and explore new methods of warfare. In this process, we should study ourselves as well as our opponents. It is necessary to study how to give full play to the ability of joint operations of various services and arms, and how to give full play to the power of combining military and land; We should not only study the development trend and scientific combination of weapons and equipment, but also study the scientific establishment of people and weapons and equipment. In the final analysis, it is necessary to adapt to the characteristics of modern warfare and create new methods of local warfare under high-tech conditions with China characteristics.
Third, strengthen preparations for military struggle with winning local wars under high-tech conditions as the main goal. The causes and types of local wars are varied, and the way and direction of occurrence are also uncertain. It may be caused by territorial disputes between land and sea, or it may be induced by other conflicts of interest; It may be against a powerful enemy, or it may be against an opponent with equal strength or less overall strength; It may happen in a prepared direction, or it may suddenly erupt in an unexpected direction; It is possible to fight within a certain depth in the mainland or near the border; It may be a land war, or it may be a relatively independent naval or air battle. Strategic guidance must consider the influence of various complex factors, be prepared by many hands, and respond quickly and flexibly once the situation occurs. China's security environment is rather complicated, so it is necessary to make multi-directional and focused preparations, highlight the research on military countermeasures and preparations for military struggle in the direction that may have a significant impact on national security, and at the same time, give consideration to other directions and handle the relationship between priority and non-priority. According to the increasingly high-tech characteristics of future wars, we should vigorously develop military high technology, focus on the most urgently needed weapons and equipment, and have several means to defeat the enemy under high-tech conditions as soon as possible; Accelerate the pace of talent training and strive to train a large number of talents who can control modern wars; Gradually adjust and reform the organizational structure, and gradually form an organizational structure that meets the needs of modern warfare.
To win modern technology, especially high-tech local wars, we should base ourselves on fighting with existing weapons and equipment, and inherit and carry forward the fine tradition of the people's army of winning the superior by defeating the inferior. The modernization of weapons and equipment depends on national economic construction and the development of science and technology. It is gradually realized with the continuous improvement of comprehensive national strength, and it takes a time and process. Even if the economy improves for a long time, weapons and equipment are still at a disadvantage compared with the strong enemies that may be faced. The overall level of China's military weapons and equipment is still relatively low, and there are few high-tech weapons. This basic situation will not change completely for a long time. In the meantime, if there is a war, it is still necessary to defeat the inferior with the superior and defeat the enemy with the superior. Operational guidance can only be based on existing weapons and equipment, or can only be based on something better than existing weapons and equipment. Deng Xiaoping pointed out: Our historical experience is that the inferior wins the superior, because we are fighting a just war and a people's war. We should have full confidence in this. ? Looking back on the historical process of China's revolutionary war, our army defeated the superior with the inferior. Whether it was the ten-year Agrarian Revolutionary War, the eight-year War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression War, the three-year Liberation War, or even the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in the early days of the founding of New China, they all won the war with inferior equipment.
War is a comprehensive contest between material strength and spiritual strength. Under the condition that high technology is widely used in the military field, the power of weapons and equipment has never been higher, and its influence on the war has been greatly enhanced. However, high-tech weapons and equipment have not and cannot change the basic laws of war. The victory or defeat of modern warfare ultimately depends on the nature of the war and the opposition of the people. Man is still the decisive factor in winning or losing a war. The people mentioned here are people with firm beliefs who recognize the people's own interests and fight for them, and people with advanced scientific and technological knowledge and high military quality. Local wars under high-tech conditions, although the form and style of war are different from those in the past, still need to mobilize and rely on people to carry out wars, still need people to master and use weapons and equipment, and still need people's universality, wisdom and sacrifice. The more weapons and equipment are developed, the more complex the technology is, the higher the quality of people is required, and the role of people becomes more prominent and important. Especially when weapons and equipment are at a disadvantage, we should give full play to people's subjective initiative, give full play to the advantages of the people's war, firmly establish confidence in daring to fight and win, attach importance to the use of aggravating tactics, implement flexible strategic guidance, insist that you fight against you, I will fight against me, give full play to my strengths, and attack the enemy's weaknesses, so as to make up for the shortage of weapons and equipment and finally defeat all the invading enemies.
Third, we must persist in the people's war under high-tech conditions.
The people's war is the product of the great revolutionary war practice of the people of China led by China's * * * Production Party, and it is the embodiment of the fundamental principle that the people create history and the party's mass line in the war. Adhering to the military strategy of active defense is basically adhering to the strategic thinking of people's war. Deng Xiaoping pointed out: Our strategy was formulated by President Mao Zedong. Chairman Mao's strategic thought is people's war? ; ? We still insist on the people's war. ? The basic contents of Mao Zedong's strategic thought of people's war are: under the leadership of the Party, mobilizing, organizing, arming and relying on the people to wage war, building the people's army, establishing a solid revolutionary base area, implementing the armed forces system combining field troops, local troops and militia, combining the main forms of armed struggle with various forms of struggle on various fronts, and using flexible strategies and tactics. It is under the guidance of the strategic thinking of the people's war that the people's army has defeated one enemy after another, constantly moving from victory to new victory.
Adhering to the people's war conforms to the actual situation in China, which is the real advantage and strength of China. The military strategy of active defense in the new period is based on the people's war. Adhere to the people's war is to safeguard world peace and national interests, because it can win the support of most people at home and abroad; China has a vast territory and a large population. It has a powerful armed force composed of the People's Liberation Army, the Armed Police Force and the broad masses of militia, and has a profound potential for people's war and a social foundation for continuous fighting. The people of China, who have rich traditions and experience in the people's war, can totally rely on the people's war to win the great victory in the future anti-aggression war.
The rapid development of modern high technology and profound changes in the world military field have brought many new situations and problems to the people's war. Compared with the past, the present people's war has different objects, different equipment, different means, different conditions and different forms of expression. Local wars under high-tech conditions in the future pose a severe challenge to the people's war. To sum up, there are mainly the following aspects:
First, in the form of war, war is mainly manifested as local war under high-tech conditions. In the past, the form of the whole country participating in the war against the enemy and the whole people faced challenges. Adhere to the strategic thinking of people's war in high-tech local wars, because the face of war has undergone profound and tremendous changes, and strategic guidance, war mobilization, and combat forms and methods will also undergo major changes. Correctly handling the relationship between overall mobilization and local mobilization, human support and technical support, and direct and indirect participation in war has become an important content to guide the people's war under high-tech conditions. War mobilization has shifted from national mobilization to local mobilization and national mobilization of some industries. The form of people's participation and support in the war will change obviously: from direct participation to more indirect participation in the war, from emphasizing human and material support to emphasizing technical support, combatants are mainly reserve forces with high technical and military quality. Those who directly participate in the war will adopt a brand-new way of fighting that is different from the past. How to carry out the people's war under the new historical conditions must proceed from the reality of high-tech local wars and make creative thinking.
Second, from the perspective of combat strength, technology-intensive elite confrontation occupies a prominent position in high-tech local wars, and the combat mode that relies solely on human superiority faces challenges. In the past, the scientific and technological content of the people's war was not high, and the technical quality of the combatants was low. We can mobilize the people on a large scale, join the army after simple training, and form an absolute strength advantage against the enemy to make up for the inferior position of the people's army in weapons and equipment. However, under modern conditions, the decisive battle between the two armies is more manifested as a technical contest. The essence of concentrating superior forces in modern warfare is to concentrate superior firepower and rely on the superior operational effectiveness formed by science and technology. In this case, it is difficult to win in the confrontation with the enemy's technology-intensive quality advantage only by relying on manpower advantage, and it is also difficult to make up for the age difference of weapons and equipment with the number of troops. How to give full play to the great strength of the people in the technology-intensive confrontation of elite soldiers is an urgent problem to be solved.
Third, from the perspective of combat space, the direct combat battlefield of high-tech local wars is relatively narrow, and it is challenging to use the vast territory to disperse and consume the enemy. In the future, China will face local wars under high-tech conditions, mainly in local areas of land borders, offshore areas and related airspace. On the one hand, the scope of direct engagement between the two armies is relatively narrow, the attack on the target is highly accurate, and the troops used are highly concentrated. It is difficult to organize the people to use the vast land space to disperse, fatigue and consume the enemy on a large scale. On the other hand, the war has expanded to the multidimensional space of land, sea, air, sky and electricity, and it is difficult to divide the front and rear of the war, and the related space of the war has expanded unprecedentedly. How to exert the overall power of the people's war in the limited direct combat battlefield and the vast war-related space is a brand-new topic.
Fourthly, from the perspective of operational time, high-tech local wars are characterized by quick decisions with compact rhythm, which change the situation through long-term strategic battles, thus facing challenges. The limited political purpose of high-tech local war requires shortening the war process and duration and speeding up the war rhythm; The long-range precision strike force, rapid delivery force and extraordinary damage force of weapons and equipment provide an effective means for quickly achieving war goals. The tactical application of modern high-tech weapons can often achieve strategic results, and a war may be condensed into a battle or even a battle. Therefore, fighting for a long time is more difficult. In the past, the people's war consumed the enemy's effective strength through protracted operations, developed itself and gradually changed the balance of power. This way is difficult to play a role in high-tech local wars. How to quickly mobilize and organize various forces to participate in the war, form and give full play to the advantages of the people's war, and thwart the enemy's attempt to make a quick decision is an important issue before all the military and civilians.
The profound changes in modern war forms and the wide application of high technology in the military field not only pose a severe challenge to the people's war, but also inject unprecedented vitality into it.
First of all, the development of modern high technology provides a new growth point for accumulating the powerful potential of the people's war. After a long-term struggle, China has made great progress in high technology, which has an increasing impact on comprehensive national strength, socio-economic structure and people's lives. National execution? Rejuvenate the country through science and education? Has the army implemented it? Strengthen the army through science and technology? It shows that the whole country and army have shifted their development focus to relying on scientific and technological progress and improving the quality of personnel. A high-tech industrial army armed with advanced technology and equipment is a frontier force in the people's war under high-tech conditions. All these have laid a solid foundation for winning the people's war under high-tech conditions and created a prerequisite for the army's combat effectiveness to achieve a qualitative leap.
Second, modern and developed information technology provides a new and effective means for mobilizing and organizing people to wage war. The most striking feature of the people's war is the extensive participation of the people. The combination of advanced public opinion and advanced information technology will produce magical effects. With the establishment of a global information dissemination network including satellite communication, the rapid development of radio, television and telecommunications has provided very convenient and effective ways and channels for mobilizing people to participate in and support the war. As long as the national defense education in peacetime is in-depth and effective, and all combat readiness work is truly implemented, once something happens, we can make full use of modern and developed information technology, quickly publicize, mobilize and organize the masses in a very short time, and win the sympathy and support of the international community.
Third, modern high-tech military-civilian compatibility provides new ways and means for the people to participate in and support the war. Modern high technology is increasingly developing in the direction of military-civilian compatibility and military-civilian enjoyment. People are the masters of high technology. They can create and apply high technology, and they can also conquer it. The channels for the people to participate in and support the war have been greatly broadened: modern civil transportation can provide a strong guarantee for military transportation; Well-equipped factories and enterprises can produce military materials after transformation; A large number of scientific research institutions, institutions of higher learning and scientific and technological personnel can be mobilized to serve the war directly or indirectly. Scientific and technological participation and scientific and technological support are promising in high-tech wars, and will even become the main content and mode.
Finally, the modern high-tech combat system is highly dependent on the whole rear area, which provides new ideas and countermeasures for carrying out the people's war extensively. High-tech local war is the overall confrontation between systems, advanced weapons and equipment rely more on the overall combat system, and the long-range strategic delivery of troops depends more on the rear. Any main battle weapon is inseparable from its supporting equipment system. Generally speaking, the bigger the weapon system, the more complex it is, the more fragile it is, and the more prone to problems. We can win the people's war under high-tech conditions by organically combining all forces, mobilizing the people to use various means, including information technology, and concentrating on attacking the enemy's weak links.
Under the condition of modern high technology, we must creatively develop the people's war. It is the only way to adapt to the requirements of the era of high-tech development, build a lean standing army, build a strong reserve force, establish a perfect rapid national defense mobilization mechanism, and combine a lean standing army with a strong reserve force. At the same time, we should also study the new strategy and tactics of the people's war. This kind of research doesn't care? Foreign? , also don't care? Earth? The key is work. Need to work hard on system matching and actual use. We should be good at discovering and summarizing the tactics of defeating the enemy from the war preparations and war practices carried out by the people. During the revolutionary war years, the people created tunnel warfare, mine warfare, sparrow warfare, sabotage warfare and other methods of warfare, which frightened the enemy. These traditional methods of people's war can continue to play a role today as long as they are combined with modern means. In the future high-tech people's war, many new tactics suitable for the people to participate in the war can be created, such as economic information warfare, cultural information warfare, destroying enemy computer networks, etc? Hacker? War; Flexible and diverse maritime guerrilla warfare; Special warfare, sabotage warfare, etc. use high-tech weapons to penetrate behind enemy lines. In a word, we should use the innovative strategy and tactics of the people's war. You hit yours and I hit mine? Concentrate advantages as far as possible, strike the enemy's center of gravity, combine high technology with medium and low technology and equipment, combine modern new style of play with traditional style of play, combine military police with civilians, and combine military means with non-military means to form comprehensive strength and overall power, so as to strike the enemy more effectively in future wars.