BEIJING - Chinese President Hu Jintao on Saturday urged the armed forces to provide solid security guarantee for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the armed police should constantly improve their capabilities of comprehensively preforming their missions in the new century and new stage, he said at a meeting of PLA deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.

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The armed forces should speed up their efforts in pushing forward the modernization of national defense and the army, so as to resolutely safeguard state sovereignty, security and development interests, said Hu.

The armed forces should unswervingly obey the Party's command, said Hu, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

In the meantime, Hu urged the armed forces to actively participate in economic, social and ecological construction, support the transformation of economic development pattern, and shoulder emergency response tasks such as disaster relief.

After attending the meeting, Hu talked with several representatives.

Talking with Zhou Bihua, a professor on electromagnetic pulse at the PLA University of Science and Technology, Hu praised Zhou for her great contribution to scientific and technological innovation in national defense.

In his talk with Gu Bingyue from the PLA Second Artillery Corps, Hu urged the missile troops to exert more efforts to enhance their capabilities of carrying out their missions.

When talking with Zhao Hui, a college graduate-turned military officer, Hu said, "I hope you make progress, love the army and devote yourself to the army, and contribute your wisdom and efforts to the modernization drive of the PLA."