After staging live-fire drills near Taiwan this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the country’s military to “strengthen military training oriented towards actual combat.”
State broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday that Xi told the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Southern Theater Command Navy on Tuesday that the military must “resolutely defend China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime interests, and strive to protect overall peripheral stability.”
Xi also encouraged the army to be “innovative in its concepts and methods of combat.” To this end, he insisted that it was necessary to accelerate “the transformation and construction of the armed forces and comprehensively raise their level of modernisation.”
The Chinese leader further stressed on the “need to improve the ability to respond to complex situations in a timely and appropriate manner.”
Xi Jinping calls on armed forces to enhance combat readiness https://t.co/MMNXjFA3yO
— Zhang Heqing (@zhang_heqing) April 12, 2023
Taiwan-US Collusion
Xi’s calls for military advancement come after China on Monday continued its live-fire drill around the self-governing island of Taiwan for the third day, in response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen meeting US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week.
Meanwhile, the Taiwanese defence ministry reported detecting 70 Chinese military aircraft and 11 vessels around its borders, 35 of which crossed the median line — Taiwan’s de facto border with China.
Other Regional Concerns
China has also been triggered by the Philippines announcing earlier this month that it would allow the US military wider access to its bases.
China has warned that such a move “would only lead to more tensions and less peace and stability in the region.” It also pressed regional countries “to think about what is right for the region and mutually beneficial” in order to “make a choice that serves regional peace and stability as well as their own interests.”