SHANGHAI: President Xi Jinping has issued a blunt call for China´s militaryto be ready for war and unafraid to die defending the country, asgeopolitical tensions mount in Asia.
Xi´s exhortation to the world´s largest fighting force, parts of which wererevealed only late Thursday, came during what state media characterised asa rare address by the Chinese leader to the country´s entire military.
Xi cemented his status as China´s most powerful leader in decades during anOctober Communist Party congress, and this week´s rhetoric and images ofmassed soldiers and tanks seemed designed to back up his new strongmanimage.
China´s military personnel should “neither fear hardship nor death,” Xitold thousands of military personnel during an inspection visit Wednesdayto the People´s Liberation Army´s Central Theater Command in northern Hebeiprovince, according to the official Xinhua news agency.[image: an image]
Xi also called for the military, a once-backward force whose rapidmodernisation over recent years has raised alarm in Asia and Washington, tocontinue upgrading.
He urged the PLA to step up research into high-tech means of warfare andengage in “real combat training”, Xinhua said.
“Create an elite and powerful force that is always ready for the fight,capable of combat and sure to win in order to fulfil the tasks bestowed bythe Party and the people in the new era,” he was quoted saying.
As head of the Communist Party´s Central Military Commission, Xi iscommander-in-chief of China´s more than two-million-strong armed forces.
Xinhua called Xi´s address to the troops “the first time for the commissionto hold a mobilisation meeting for the whole armed forces.”
Other media reports said thousands of troops elsewhere in the countryassembled at their installations to hear his speech.[image: an image]
Since taking office in 2012, Xi has pushed for a muscular China, includingcalls in October to develop a “world-class” Chinese army by 2050.
The PLA has upgraded its arsenal with increasing sophisticated weaponry andsought to create a more effective and professional fighting force.
Temperatures have risen over North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un thumbing hisnose at the world by repeatedly testing his country´s banned nuclearweapons and missiles, while exchanging tit-for-tat threats with USPresident Donald Trump.
During his visit to the military command, Xi was shown in combat fatiguesinspecting troops, tanks, sniper training, and peering down the sights ofan automatic rifle.
State media also said he paid a visit to an exhibit detailing the PLA´sexperience battling American-led forces during the Korean War.