Jiang Zemin, former chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, expressed his hope Monday that Chinese military forces would always follow the Party's orders and well perform its duty of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Jiang Zemin handed over his post as the military chief of the Communist Party of China (CPC) to Hu Jintao Sunday,

"I'm very glad to come here to join you today," said Jiang, 78, while he and Hu attended together an enlarged meeting of the CPC Central Military Commission (CMC) held in Beijing on Monday morning. "As a veteran communist, I would like to express some hope on all of you here."

"Firstly, I hope the military will always resolutely follow the Party's instructions and guidance, obey the orders from the Party and accept the Party's absolute leadership," said Jiang.

"Secondly, I hope the military will always preserve the political nature of the Red Army, ... to carry on our army's glorious tradition and fine style of work one generation after another," Jiang added.

He went on to express the hope that the Chinese military would try hard to "stand in the front of the global tide of military development", and that the military would constantly "consolidate and develop a high level of (internal) solidarity and unity".

"Fifthly, I hope that the military will earnestly fulfill its sacred mission of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity," said Jiang. "The realization of the reunification of the motherland is a major issue to which (the late) Chairman Mao (Zedong) and Comrade (Deng) Xiaoping had always paid great attention."

On the resolution of the Taiwan issue, Jiang said, "We shall try our best with utmost sincerity to realize the peaceful reunification, but we shall by no means make the commitment to forsake the use of force. This is a major political principle."

Jiang pointed out that the military must step up its preparations for the military struggle. "The better we are prepared for the military struggle, the more likely we are to gain a peaceful reunification in the future," he said.

He called on "all comrades of the military" to "bravely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity with resolution and faith", and to "make still greater contribution to the realization of the complete reunification of the motherland".     

The 16th CPC Central Committee, at its Fourth Plenum which concluded here Sunday, accepted Jiang's resignation and approved Hu, 61, to take over as the new Party military chief.