Forty-one years ago today, on November 1, 1984 (October 9, 1984 in the lunar calendar), Deng Xiaoping proposed a disarmament 1 million. On November 1, 1984, a month after the military parade marking the 35th anniversary of the National Day, the Central Military Commission held a symposium, and Deng Xiaoping expressed an amazing determination: large-scale disarmament. Deng said: Disarmament is an offending thing, let me offend it, and do not hand over the contradiction to the new Chairperson of the Central Military Commission. In June 1985, the Chinese government officially announced the reduction of 1 million personnel, accounting for about a quarter of the number of Chinese troops at that time, and the 11 major military regions were reduced to 7. In the past, disarmament was mainly about downsizing, and the internal structure changed little. This is not only a reduction in personnel, but also a reorganization of the military system, especially the army. The army's first-level troops have moved towards the integrated group army, and the number of special forces has exceeded that of infantry for the first time in history. This disarmament was made unilaterally by China when international disarmament negotiations were deadlocked. Moreover, after the disarmament, China accelerated the modernization of the army, the establishment of new arms, the strengthening of the coordinated combat ability of multiple arms, and the modernization and regularization of the army. Deng Xiaoping announced a reduction of 1 million. On May 23, 1985, an expanded meeting of the Central Military Commission was held. At the meeting, Deng Xiaoping, then the chairperson of the Central Military Commission, announced a shocking news: the Chinese People's Liberation Army will reduce its troops by one million! The Chinese people who have lived through the era of "grasping revolution, promoting war preparedness", "digging deep holes, and collecting grain widely" do not understand why, and many people in the international community do not understand why: the world is not peaceful under the shadow of the Cold War, so why does China want to disarm? Deng Xiaoping made this answer: After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, our judgment of the international situation has changed, and our foreign policy has also changed. These are two important changes. The first change is the understanding of war and peace. In the past, our view has always been that war is inevitable and imminent. In recent years, we have carefully observed the situation and believed that only the two superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States, are qualified to fight a world war, but neither of them dare to fight yet. The world is very big and complex. There are not many people who really support war. The people demand peace and oppose war. We must also see that the world's new scientific and technological revolution is booming, and the economy and science and technology are playing an increasingly prominent role in world competition. This situation cannot be ignored by the United States, the Soviet Union, and other developing countries. Therefore, we believe that there will be no world war for a long period of time, and there is hope for maintaining world peace. The second change is that our foreign policy has changed. For a long time in the past, in response to the threat of Soviet hegemony, we pursued a "one-line" strategy. Now we have changed this strategy. China does not play other people's cards, nor does it allow others to play the China card. This enhances China's international status. As long as we adhere to such judgments and policies, we will be able to do a good job in our four modernizations wholeheartedly. Get the economy going first, and everything will be easy to handle. Now is the time to bite the bullet and get the economy going. With such a big picture, everything must obey this big picture. Wise decisions often show their wisdom later. More than ten years have passed, and everything is as Comrade Xiaoping expected. The world war has not broken out, and the forces for peace have continued to grow. It is we who have invested our main forces in economic construction and continuously enhanced our comprehensive national strength that have enabled our party and our country to withstand the test of countless stormy waves and survive.