Xi lauds PLA Daily on 70th anniversary of its founding

President Xi Jinping has sent a congratulatory letter to the People's Liberation Army Daily on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of its founding, which falls on Thursday.

In his letter, Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said that over the past 70 years, the PLA Daily has consistently upheld the Party's leadership, actively promoted the Party's theories, principles and policies, and vividly presented the military's development, reforms and combat-readiness practices.

It should strive to build a more effective modern military communication system and better utilize its role as a main channel of publicity, in order to gather strong momentum for advancing the modernization of national defense and the military with high quality, Xi said. Xi's message was read out by Zhang Shengmin, vice-chairman of the CMC, at a celebration event held in Beijing on Wednesday.

The PLA Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Chinese military, was founded on Jan 1, 1956.

Ji Haisheng