President Xi Jinping stressed achieving the targets and strengthening the national defense and armed forces in 2020, while maintaining effective epidemic control on Tuesday.

Xi made the remarks when attending a plenary meeting of the delegation of the People's Liberation Army and People's Armed Police Force, at the third session of the 13th National People's Congress.

What Xi says

Click here to view the infographic

- The people's armed forces have once again proven themselves to be heroic forces that can be fully trusted by the Party and the people.

- The military should explore methods of carrying out training operations and other tasks in the face of anti-epidemic measures, arrange their schedules in accordance with changing situations, gear up combat preparation and conduct battle drills in a flexible manner.

- The military should utilize its advantages in medical research to speed up the development of medicines and vaccines for COVID-19.

- The military should produce sound plans for its development in the coming five years. It should make detailed and accurate calculations on how to spend the defense budget to make sure every expenditure is worth making.