Global Courant
BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday that the country’s military “must dare to fight,” state media reported, as he inspected troops operating in a flashpoint zone near Taiwan.
Mr Xi’s visit comes amid a flurry of diplomacy with the United States – Taiwan’s main financier of security – with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen currently in Beijing for talks to stabilize economic ties.
China claims self-governed Taiwan as part of its own territory and has vowed to one day bring the island under its control, by force if necessary.
During an inspection of the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command, Mr Xi told military representatives to “dare to fight, be good at fighting and resolutely defend national sovereignty (and) security,” state broadcaster CCTV reported.
“At present, the world has entered a new era of turbulence and change, and our country’s security situation has become more unstable and uncertain,” CCTV quoted Mr Xi as saying.
“It is necessary to deepen war and battle planning… focus on military training for actual combat, and accelerate the improvement of our ability to win,” Mr. Xi reportedly said.
The military “should… increase the capacity of party committee leaders to prepare and fight for war,” he added, according to the broadcaster.
Footage broadcast by CCTV on Thursday evening showed Mr Xi in a khaki military shirt entering a room with military officials applauding enthusiastically before making remarks from a podium.
China and the US have clashed over the status of Taiwan in recent years, with Beijing holding large-scale military exercises following a visit to the island by then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last year.
In April, Chinese troops conducted three days of exercises to simulate a blockade of the island after Ms Pelosi’s successor, Mr Kevin McCarthy, held talks with Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen in California.
Dr Yellen’s visit comes after another top US official, Mr Antony Blinken, expressed concern over China’s “provocative” actions against Taiwan during a visit to Beijing last month – the first such trip by a US secretary of state in nearly five years.
But China dismissed the comments, with top diplomat Wang Yi saying there was “no room for compromise” on the matter. AFP
