'We absolutely support the decision': China's military units back Xi Jinping's plan to cut 300,000 troops

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President Xi Jinping has said China's troop numbers will be cut by 300,000 by the end of 2017. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 2:00pm, 4 Sep 2015Updated: 4:42pm, 4 Sep 2015

All of China’s military units have pledged their support for President Xi Jinping’s announcement that troop numbers will be cut by 300,000 by the end of 2017, the mainland’s military newspaper says.

The PLA Daily published a commentary on Friday combining pledges from the heads of the army’s four headquarters, seven key land troops’ military area commands, air force, navy, the strategic missile force, paramilitary police, military academies and grass-roots officers.

All of them said they publicly supported the party’s leadership’s efforts to achieve its dream of “building a strong army”, the newspaper reported.

Xi said on Thursday he would cut military personnel by 300,000 – twice the size of the British armed forces – shortly before presiding over a huge military parade in Beijing to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war.

[We] absolutely support the decision made by the Communist Party and Central Military Commission chairman Xi and promise to learn unswerving adherence to the principle that the party controls the armed forces

Pledges by heads of China's military units

“[We] absolutely support the decision made by the Communist Party and Central Military Commission chairman Xi and promise to learn unswerving adherence to the principle that the party controls the armed forces,” said the commentary, citing party heads of the seven key military commands in Beijing, Shenyang, Lanzhou, Jinan, Nanjing, Guangzhou and Chengdu.