Chapter 17 love to read, think hard

For Americans, Xiong Guangkai is the person who has the most say on the US military situation. Everything is under the control of this Chinese strategist who has been engaged in military situation analysis for more than 40 years. The influence on China's military policy is also huge. Xiong Guangkai is indeed a magical figure to the outside world, but he is also an ordinary person. In his own words, "he is a Chinese soldier and professor". Xiong Guangkai was born in Nanchang, Jiangxi in 1939 and joined the Chinese People's Liberation Army in 1956. In 1960, at the age of 21, he entered the Ministry of Defense to work in military intelligence. In 1982, he studied at the Military Academy of the People's Liberation Army. He served as an interpreter at the Military Attaché Office of the Chinese Embassy in the former Democratic Germany, and as a Deputy Military Attaché at the Chinese Embassy in the former Federal Republic of Germany.

Over the years, Xiong Guangkai has developed a habit of loving reading and thinking hard. His bookshelves are full of theoretical works by military strategists and politicians from various countries.In order to keep abreast of the latest military information of various countries and changes in the political situation, he has to read newspapers and academic articles from all over the world every day, and conduct in-depth thinking and analysis on them. Xiong Guangkai's wife graduated from the Chemistry Department of Peking University in 1959. She is proficient in English, German, Japanese and other languages. She once worked in the International Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Aviation Industry.The evaluation of her by the outside world is: "smart, polite and alert".When Xiong Guangkai was a military attache in the former GDR, she worked at the Chinese embassy in the former GDR; after returning to China with Xiong Guangkai, she worked as an engineer in China Aviation Technology Import and Export Corporation.Due to her excellent foreign language skills, when Xiong Guangkai faced a mountain of articles and had no time to translate, she became her husband's right-hand man.

Xiong Guangkai's rich experience in foreign military exchanges has been accumulated and honed during his long-term work. Whether he was an interpreter at the military attache of the former German Embassy in the Democratic Republic of Germany, a deputy military attache in the former Federal German Embassy, ​​or returned to the General Staff, He can analyze the situation with a strategist's vision and promote foreign military exchanges.He also regularly received official and unofficial foreign guests in his capacity as PLA spokesman.He attaches great importance to social etiquette, has a sharp mind, is very talkative, and is full of self-confidence. Even the most demanding American officials praised him as a "flexible person" after meeting Xiong Guangkai, "very professional, energetic, not sloppy, and always Hope to control the scene."

While participating in the military's foreign exchanges, Xiong Guangkai was able to conduct rational strategic thinking from effective information, be highly targeted, and form a personalized military view to provide reference for decision-making at the highest level of the Central Military Commission. In June 1987, Xiong Guangkai published an article entitled "National Defense Development Strategies and Policies of the World's Major Powers in Peacetime" in the "National Defense Modernization" magazine. The social response was strong, and the Central Military Commission attached great importance to it.This article uses reliable and detailed materials and uses a strategic perspective to sort out and analyze the national defense intentions of the most powerful countries in the world at that time. It is very forward-looking and is a rare report on the world military situation. Relevant departments regarded it as an excellent answer sheet handed over by the General Staff at that time.

After Xiong Guangkai became the head of a certain department of the General Staff in 1988, he paid more attention to this kind of timely, effective, and informative analysis report on the world military situation, and ensured that every month a heavy message was submitted to the Central Military Commission, so that the high-level members of the Military Commission could timely hold information. Xiong Guangkai's high work efficiency and unique strategic vision won high praise from the Central Military Commission. This year, he was awarded the rank of major general by the Central Military Commission, and in 1993 he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.