According to state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to continue its training and improve its combat preparedness amid the ongoing pandemic.
In an address to the Chinese military delegation on the sidelines of the annual National People’s Congress, Xi told the army to step up its preparedness for armed confrontation and become more capable of carrying out military tasks. “It is necessary to explore ways of training and preparing for war because epidemic control efforts have been normalised,” he said.
Xi, who chairs the Central Military Commission, said that it was important to “comprehensively strengthen the training of troops and prepare for war”, “resolutely safeguard national sovereignty”, and “safeguard the overall strategic stability of the country”.
Since he took power in 2013, Xi has aimed to modernise the armed forces and enhance combat preparedness.
While acknowledging that the coronavirus pandemic has been a “big test” and had created challenges for the military, he emphasised that China’s performance in fighting Covid-19 has shown the success of military reforms.
Although he did not mention any specific issue or threat, he ordered the military to think about worst-case scenarios and said it was necessary to make preparations for military struggle. He further went on to add that “…this epidemic prevention and control struggle is a practical test for national defence and military reform, fully embodies the effectiveness of the reform, and also puts forward new requirements for reform”.
Xi, who also heads the 2 million-strong PLA, hailed China’s integration of the civil, military, and political sectors, noting the advantages it yielded during the COVID-19 crisis. He also echoed previous statements made by Premier Li Keqiang, who highlighted and justified the recent hike in China’s military budget. Xi suggested that it was needed to protect China’s “sovereignty, security, development interests.” Last week, China announced a 6.6% year-on-year increase in its defence budget, as compared to 7.5% last year.
Xi Jinping’s comments come at a time when China has been engaged in a war of words with the United States. Both sides have threatened the other with preventive and retaliatory actions in the diplomatic and economic spheres. In addition, since the pandemic began, China has been embroiled in a border standoff with India, which is still ongoing, and postured an aggressive stance and presence in the South China Sea getting into spats with countries like Vietnam and the Philippines. Some experts suggest that this is part of Beijing’s aggressive propaganda campaign to divert attention away from the coronavirus by invoking nationalist sentiment within China.
Wu Qian, the PLA spokesperson, has acknowledged that Beijing feels that, along with overseas interests of the nation, the country’s homeland security is also facing some real threats. Hence, clearly the intensifying protests in Hong Kong over the new national security bill and the re-election of the Tsai Ing-Wen in Taiwan have also been on the mind of Chinese leadership as they display their political resolve.
Image Source: Lowy Institute
