BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has grown in strength and become more modernized and professional through eight decades of development, President Hu Jintao said on Wednesday.

Hu, also chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a grand rally held in Beijing's Great Hall of the People to mark the PLA's 80th anniversary.

The PLA is "no longer a small, single-service force, but a strong and multiple-service force," which has made progress in modernization and is stepping toward an information technology-based army, Hu said.

"By putting in place a comprehensive scientific, technological and industrial structure for national defense, the PLA is increasingly better positioned to defend the nation," he said.

It has cleared a path of development that suits China's realities, improved its own organizations and structures, enhanced logistic and equipment support capabilities, and cultivated many competent military professionals for the new era, he said.

"All these have strengthened the PLA's capability to better perform its mission and provided a solid foundation for the basic realization of defense and military modernization," he said.