PLA garrison urged to play pillar role

President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, inspects the Chinese People's Liberation Army garrison stationed in Macao on Friday. (LI GANG/XINHUA)

President Xi Jinping urged members of the People's Liberation Army Macao Garrison on Friday to comprehensively improve their capabilities to perform their duties and make greater contributions to implementing the "one country, two systems" principle in the special administrative region.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, instructed service members from the garrison to uphold the Party's strategies for developing and strengthening the armed forces, make all-out efforts to improve their units and their defense capability, and act as a pillar of the city's stability and security.

Xi made the remarks on Friday afternoon during an inspection of the garrison, where he was greeted with a military parade featuring honor guards, combat forces, riot control units, counterterrorism groups, and emergency response and rescue teams.

He stressed the special role and responsibilities of the garrison, calling on officers and soldiers to uphold the Party's guidance and maintain their absolute loyalty, always keep their missions in mind, enhance awareness of their role as a fighting force, and focus on combat training so they can effectively perform their duties.

Over the past 25 years, the garrison has firmly followed policies and orders from the Party and the Central Military Commission, carefully abided by the "one country, two systems" principle, the Basic Law and the Garrison Law, responsibly carried out its defense tasks, and perfectly fulfilled a host of tasks, Xi noted.

Furthermore, the garrison has been playing an important role in safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests and maintaining Macao's long-term prosperity and stability, and has established a very good reputation among locals, the president said.

The PLA Macao Garrison was established in March 1999 in Zhuhai, a coastal city in Guangdong province that neighbors Macao, and entered Macao on Dec 20, 1999, the day that China resumed its exercise of sovereignty over Macao after more than 400 years of Portuguese rule.

Over the past 25 years of deployment, the Macao garrison has implemented the new era's military strategy, with a strong emphasis on strengthening ideological and political construction, Wu Qian, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry, said last week.

It also has shown absolute loyalty and reliability in the face of special challenges, Wu said.

"The Macao garrison closely aligned with its mission tasks, prioritizing realistic military training to enhance emergency command, front-line duty and capabilities for handling special situations," Wu said, adding that the garrison has regularly organized joint exercises and training, participated in international joint drills, and continuously enhanced its defense capabilities to be ready for combat at all times.

Looking ahead, the Macao garrison will continue to be a loyal guardian trusted by the Party and the people and a powerful force relied upon by the people of Macao, and will play a key role in safeguarding the prosperity and stability of Macao, Wu said.