What exactly does national defense mean?

Modern national defense is not only the competition of military struggle, but also the competition of comprehensive national strength such as national manpower, natural forces, politics, economy, science and technology, spirit and national defense. Modern national defense not only emphasizes the quantity construction of the army, but also attaches great importance to the knowledge-intensive national defense industry and the quality construction of the army; Modern national defense depends not only on strength, but also on national defense potential, especially the strength to turn potential into reality; Modern national defense should be based not only on actual combat, but also on deterrence in peacetime; Modern national defense not only relies on economic construction, but also defends and promotes economic construction, which has the characteristics of "proliferation". Only the coordinated development of national defense and economic construction can achieve the best security, economic and social benefits. Therefore, the modern national defense in the information age is social national defense, great national defense and national defense for all. The cognition of modern national defense should go far beyond the traditional military category.

Traditional national defense is mainly manifested in military actions taken by the armed forces to defend the sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity and security of the country. Its constituent elements are mainly: army, war or military action, which refers to the "obvious confrontation" of direct armed forces, and other national defense-related fields are less concerned. Under the influence of the traditional national defense concept of pure military concept, the traditional national defense consciousness has been formed. Therefore, the traditional national defense consciousness is the kind of combat readiness consciousness of "ready to fight at any time", which is not included in the national education system institutionally. The limitation of traditional national defense consciousness stems from the limitation of national defense understanding. We treat national defense and combat readiness, national defense and military equally, only see the relationship between national defense and military, and replace national defense with military, ignoring the in-depth understanding of the relationship between national defense and politics, economy, education and science and technology. The traditional purely military concept of national defense consciousness can easily make people's understanding of national defense construction rigid, which will lead some citizens to unilaterally think that national defense is to guard the frontier, and it is only necessary when there is war. National defense is a matter of the army and soldiers, which has little connection with our daily life and personal life, forming one-sided national defense cognition, affecting people's feelings about national defense, leading to a tendency to ignore or ignore national defense, thus directly affecting the formation of modern national defense consciousness.

Traditional national defense is a narrow pure military confrontation, which despises or ignores politics, diplomacy, economy, science and technology.

Modern national defense is generalized, and comprehensive national strength is valued and developed. Modern national defense is a complete system, and its main contents include: national defense system, armed forces, national defense mobilization, national defense education, national defense science and technology, national defense laws and regulations, national defense industry, national defense economy, national defense diplomacy, national defense engineering, battlefield construction and military transportation, which are not available in traditional national defense.