Xi was speaking ahead of the PLA’s 99th anniversary and his comments offer a rare insight into how its modernisation is progressing
1-MIN READ1-MIN ListenAmber Wangin BeijingPublished: 2:25pm, 31 Jul 2026Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on the People’s Liberation Army to enhance its use of AI as part of a drive to develop an intelligent military.
He told a Politburo group study session that the PLA should “strengthen the military application of unmanned intelligent technologies, deepen the development and application of network information systems, and gradually build an intelligent military system,” according to state news agency Xinhua.
This goal has never been made explicit, but the PLA has previously called for the better integration of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.
China’s military aims to become a world-class force by 2049 and to “basically achieve” the modernisation of national defence and the armed forces by 2035.
During Thursday’s meeting, Xi emphasised the importance of hitting the centenary goal on time and said the PLA had made “significant progress” in modernising and becoming combat-ready since 2012.
