BEIJING (Dispatches) – Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged the military to be ready for war as the country faced an increasingly unstable and uncertain security situation.
President Xi, on a visit to a military command center, said the army must “comprehensively strengthen military training in preparation for war,” state media reported on Thursday.
“Focus all your energy on fighting, work hard on fighting and improve your capability to win,” the president was quoted as saying. The army must also “resolutely defend national sovereignty and national security” as China was in an “unstable and uncertain” security situation, he said.
In a similar visit to the command center in 2016, the Chinese president told officers to be “loyal” and “resourceful” in fighting and “courageous and capable of winning wars.”
Xi made a veiled attack on the U.S.’s increasingly explicit support for Taipei at the 20th party congress, which concluded in Beijing last month, blaming “foreign interference” for exacerbating tensions.
Xi sees seizing Taiwan as a key part of his legacy and said in his opening speech at the congress: “We will never promise to renounce the use of force.”
Top U.S. General Pledges Military Aid to Taiwan
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley has said the Pentagon will support Taiwan’s military with both weapons and training, warning against a Chinese attack on the island while accusing Beijing of seeking “global military superiority.”
Speaking at an event held by the Economic Club of New York, the American general stressed that Washington would continue to strengthen security cooperation with Taipei, despite vocal objections from Beijing, which considers the island part of China’s sovereign territory.
In September, China lodged “stern representations” with Washington after U.S. President Joe Biden said American forces would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.
China considers Taipei as a breakaway province that should be reunited with the mainland under the internationally-recognized One China policy. The sovereignty is subject to international recognition, including by the United States. But, in violation of its stated policy and in an attempt to irritate Beijing, Washington has recently expanded diplomatic contacts with the self-proclaimed government in Chinese Taipei.
Washington is also the island’s largest weapons supplier.
Relations between China and the U.S. have strained in recent years, with the world’s two largest economies clashing over a range of issues, Chinese Taipei included.