Xi Jinping calls on Chinese armed forces to focus on “combat readiness”

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on the country’s armed forces to always prepare for “instabilities” and “uncertainties”, as reported by state media on Wednesday, as well as the focus on “Preparing for battle.”

All armed forces must “Always be ready to respond to all kinds of complex and difficult situations”, Xi said Tuesday at a meeting with the military delegation to the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s annual parliamentary session.

Army development must focus on “combat readiness”Xi said, according to the state news agency Xinhua.

The new five-year plan from 2021 to 2025 offers a good starting point to strengthen national defense and the army, according to the president.

At the end of the weeklong meeting, the AFN to approve plan to establish armed forces leadership on Friday, and a sharp 6.8 percent increase in military spending for this year.

Xi detailed that the plan is to step up the construction of “high caliber strategic deterrence” and that the People’s Liberation Army must “Resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests.”

The Chinese leader, who is also the head of the Communist Party and chairman of the military commission, added that military developments must be driven by innovation and that it is necessary to continue efforts to make science and technology independent.

Growing tensions

Modernization and expansion of Chinese military enters a backdrop of growing tensions with the United States Yes Taiwan, incidents at its border with India and disputes over the islands of South china sea and of East China Sea.

The latest warning about the Chinese threat came Tuesday from the head of the Indo-Pacific military command (Indopacom), Admiral Philip Davidson, who assured that Xi Jinping’s regime could invade Taiwan within six years to achieve its stated ambition to replace the United States as the region’s premier military power, which the military says endangers even the American island of Guam.

“I am afraid that they are accelerating their plans to supplant the United States … by 2050”, Davidson testified before a Senate committee. “I’m afraid they want to achieve their goal sooner than expected.”

For this reason, the admiral asked members of Congress to approve the installation in Guam of an anti-missile battery. Aegis on land state of the art capable of intercepting the most powerful Chinese shells, as well as three other batteries for Australia and Japan. Davidson also called for offensive weapons to be included in the 2022 military budget. “Let China know that the cost of what it is trying to do is too high and make it doubt its chances of success.

(With information from Europa Press and AFP)

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