President Hu Jintao has called for a correct understanding and handling of relations between national defense and economic development, so as to open up a new situation of development in the two fields.

"The scientific concept of development" should be held up to guide the whole situation of economic and social development, Hu said on Thursday in a meeting with participants of the 5th national conference on people's air defense and a training course for leading officials in charge of mobilization.

Both safeguarding state safety and unification and protecting the peaceful work of the people call for consolidating national defense, stressed the president, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of Central Military Commission (CMC).

Mobilization and people's air defense are important parts of the country's national defense, Hu said, urging local authorities to strengthen leadership in the two areas.

He called for including people's air defense to the mobilization system, by integrating the construction of people's air defense facilities and the development of cities, and strengthening cities' air defense capabilities.

Present at the meeting were Zeng Qinghong, He Guoqiang, Guo Boxiong, Cao Gangchuan, Wang Gang, Xu Caihou, Hua Jianmin, and other senior officials and officers.

(Xinhua News Agency October 28, 2005)