What is China's national defense policy?

-Consolidating national defense, resisting aggression, stopping armed subversion, and defending the sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity and security of the state. This is the basic objective of China's national defense policy and the main duty entrusted to China's armed forces by the Constitution. China endeavors to avoid and stop wars, and strives to resolve international disputes and historical problems by peaceful means. However, at a time when hegemony and power politics still exist, the State must have the ability to defend its sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity and security by military means. China's modernization of its national defence is entirely for the purpose of self-defence and is necessary to safeguard the country's modernization and security. The size of China's armed forces is commensurate with the need to defend national security and interests. China builds and consolidates its national defense independently and self-reliably.

-- National defense construction is subordinate to and serves the overall situation of the country's economic construction, and national defense construction is developed in coordination with economic construction. This is a long-term basic policy for China's national defense construction. The modernization of national defense requires the support of the country's economic and technological forces, and the level of modernization of national defense can only be gradually raised as the country's economic strength increases. The State insists on focusing on economic construction, and national defense construction must obey and serve this overall situation; the military actively participates in and supports the country's economic construction. While concentrating on economic construction, the State strengthens national defense construction and promotes the coordinated development of national defense construction and economic construction.

--Implementing the strategic military policy of active defense. Strategically, China applies the principles of defense, self-defense and post-emption, and adheres to the principle that "if no one commits a crime against me, I will not commit a crime; if someone commits a crime against me, I will definitely commit a crime." China's possession of a small number of nuclear weapons is solely for the purpose of self-defense. China adheres to the principle of self-defence for all and the strategic idea of people's war, strengthens the concept of national defence for all people, improves the system of national defence mobilization and strengthens the construction of national defence reserve forces; builds on its existing weaponry and equipment, and inherits and carries forward its fine traditions; adapts to the profound changes in the world's military arena, and is well prepared to engage in defence operations in the context of modern technology, especially high technology.

--Taking the road of military excellence with Chinese characteristics. China's army strives to strengthen quality construction and take the road of elite soldiers with Chinese characteristics, with the goal of building a revolutionary, modernized and regularized people's army with Chinese characteristics. Reducing quantity and improving quality is a basic policy for the modernization of the army. The Chinese army relies on science and technology to strengthen the army, realizing the army's transformation from quantitative scale to qualitative effectiveness and from manpower-intensive to science and technology-intensive; it strives to raise the level of modernization and construction of weaponry and equipment in accordance with the characteristics of modern warfare, reforming and perfecting the army's system of organization, and improving the content and methods of training for the troops and of education in the institutions.

--Maintaining world peace and opposing acts of aggression and expansion. China adheres to the Five Principles of Peace***, handles foreign military relations independently and autonomously, carries out military exchanges and cooperation, and refrains from hegemony, military blocs, military expansion, and the stationing of troops or the establishment of military bases abroad. China opposes an arms race and advocates effective arms control and disarmament in accordance with the principles of justice, rationality, comprehensiveness and balance. China supports activities undertaken by the international community that are conducive to the maintenance of world and regional peace, security and stability, as well as the efforts of the international community to resolve international disputes in a just and reasonable manner, arms control and disarmament.