PLA Daily 2003-06-27
In the simple office of Wu Fengyu, director of Frontier Defense Bureau of the General Staff Headquarters, a huge Map of China almost covered one side of the wall. There are numerous marks on the map: from the banks of ussuri River to Zengmu Ansha; from the East China Sea to the Pamir…, all these marks are the evidences of his track along the long frontier of the motherland.
Wu Fengyu has been working on frontier defense for 22 years. He has been to 98% of the frontier defense sentry posts with a total distance of over 500,000 kilometers and taken charge of lots of significant frontier projects, dedicating all his heart and soul to the glorious career of strengthening China's frontier defense.
Wu's military rank isn't very high in the Headquarters. However, there was a heavy burden on his shoulders--22,000 kilometers land frontier, 18,000 kilometers shoreline…
Once, Wu Fengyu went to a sentry on way toward Siberia at the border between Russia and China, the officers and men told him a breathtaking story about "driving through the glacier" in winter. The story made him gloomy. The arduous condition of the frontier officers and men slid in his mind.
"The frontier is a window of showing the strength of our country and army which represents our national dignity. But there is still a gap in infrastructure construction of the frontier between China and the neighboring countries. We still relatively lag behind…" This worried Wu Fengyu. He discussed with his colleagues and then submitted their suggestions on strengthening infrastructure construction of the frontier to the higher authorities. Soon after, the largest frontier infrastructure constructions in land after the founding of the People's Republic of China were launched in 9 frontier provinces of China.
Presently, along the frontier of China, there are new barracks with complete sets of facilities, networks of transportation and modern meeting rooms which form a beautiful scenery in the frontier areas. Seeing these great changes, many foreigners showed their surprise, saying "China is developing rapidly, China is getting stronger."
With his experiences gained from his investigation in frontier areas, Wu Fengyu got fruitful results. Because of the various geographical conditions in the frontier area, such as high altitude mountain in the west, desolated Gobi in the north and semi-tropical jungles in the south, the officers and men have to make proper preparations according to different conditions when they patrol and perform their duty. Wu Fengyu took charge of drafting "Rules on Frontier Duty of the Chinese People's Liberation Army" and other eight pamphlets on the frontier rules. These rules gradually legalized and normalized the frontier defense work in China.
One winter, Wu Fengyu came to a sentry post of a frontier defense company in northern frontier under the temperature of 40 degree centigrade below zero to be on duty with the soldiers. Although they wore thick leather coat, they still trembled in the cold piercing wind. One hour later, when he was off duty, he found that his legs were almost frozen.
Wu Fengyu had a first-hand experience of "ice house, earth wall, frozen winter in the sentry post" described by the officers and men in the northern frontier areas. He made up his mind on solving the heat preservation problems at the frontier defense areas. Back to Beijing, under his suggestion, the leaders of the General Staff Headquarters held a special discussion on the problems with the departments concered.
Now, hundreds of sentry posts with heat preservation were established and maintained. The officers and men in northern frontier areas have farewell to the coldness.
While Wu Fengyu went to the sentry post, he really meant it. If time permitted, he would like to patrol with the frontier officers and men and help them overcome their difficulties. Over the years, ten problems such as subsidy for the frontier defense force on duty, scientific research on patrol vehicles, as well as the construction of meeting rooms, etc. were solved.
One day, Wu Fengyu went to inspect the work of mines removal along the border between China and Vietnam. When the officers and men finished their task in a once mines-covered land, they stepped on it hand in hand, proving that there was no dangers anymore.
On seeing this, a torrent of warmth flew upon his heart. He decided to go with them.
Later that day, he still remembered the feet of the soldiers. He felt proud of them, but on the other side, he felt sad. Our management measures on the frontier defense remained at an undeveloped stage for a long time. The soldiers were still using the most primitive way on patrolling and they were protecting the country with their lives.
"Only by using science and technology, could we strengthen the frontier." When visiting foreign countries, he saw a lot of advanced frontier management and control facilities and collected numerous pictures. Combined with the materials he got, he established a "Frontier Defense Reference Data Base" and helped others to set up "Frontier Research Center" and "Frontier Defense Study Course". Lots of insightful suggestions were made in his writings.
Because of the coordinated operation of Wu Fengyu and his comrade-in-arms, high-tech equipment such as digital maps, satellite communication, electric sentinels, special patrol vehicles and helicopters etc. gradually appeared in the frontier areas. Automatic monitoring facilities were even installed in some guards' rooms, in which soldiers could get all the detailed information on the front-line frontier.
By Li Xuanqing, Wu Tianmin and Cao Weifeng
(June 26, PLA Daily)
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