State media reported on Saturday that Chinese President Xi Jinping had called for troops to be more war-ready this week, just a few days after Beijing held large-scale military drills around Taiwan.
According to CCTV, Xi made the remarks on Thursday while he was visiting a People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force brigade.
CCTV reported that Xi advised the military to “comprehensively strengthen training and preparation for war” and to “ensure troops have solid combat capabilities.”
Xi stated that soldiers should “enhance their strategic deterrent and combat capability.”
In recent years, China has increased its displays of force around Taiwan, which it claims as part of its territory.
It was Beijing’s fourth round of large-scale war games around the democratic island in just over two years, and on Monday, it had deployed fighter jets, drones, warships, coast guard vessels, and other equipment to encircle Taiwan.
China’s socialist chiefs have demanded they won’t preclude utilizing power to bring Taiwan under Beijing’s influence.
According to the CCTV report, Xi said on Thursday that the Chinese military must “strongly safeguard the country’s strategic security and core interests.”
The civil war in which Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist forces were defeated by Mao Zedong’s communist fighters and fled to Taiwan in 1949 is the source of the dispute that exists between China and Taiwan.
