Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during his inspection tour of the National Defence University (NDU) of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Beijing, capital of China, March 23, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

BEIJING, March 23 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday called for reforms and innovation in military-affiliated universities and academies in a bid to support the building of stronger armed forces.

Xi made the remarks during an inspection tour of the National Defence University (NDU) of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the country's top military academy.

To achieve the goal of building a world-class army, military-affiliated colleges must be strengthened, Xi said, calling for the advancement of reforms and innovation to provide talent and intellectual support for this goal.

Xi, also Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), urged servicemen to adhere to the correct political direction.

As a key base for training military cadres, the NDU must set high standards in politics and strictly discipline itself, strengthening awareness of conforming to the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, according to Xi.

Xi urged the NDU to stick to the Party's absolute leadership over the army, maintain a high degree of consistency with the CPC Central Committee in thought, politics and action, safeguard the CPC Central Committee's authority, and submit itself to the direction of the CPC Central Committee and the CMC.

Education in the Party's theories should be strengthened. Improving students' ideological and political abilities and enhancing their Party ethics should be the top priority in education, Xi said.