BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed military modernizationand technological advances during meetings with servicemen and women aheadof the Lunar New Year, state media said.

Chinese leaders generally use the time around the festival to makeinspection trips around the country where they flag important policyinitiatives or areas of concern for the year ahead.

The week-long holiday starts on Thursday, the eve of the new year. It isthe most important holiday in the Chinese calendar, when millions of peopletravel to their home towns, many for the only time in the year.

Xi has made the upgrading of China’s armed forces a key policy plank,investing in a range of new technologies including stealth fighters,aircraft carriers and missiles.

On a visit to a satellite launch site in southwestern China’s Sichuanprovince on Saturday, Xi told senior officers they should work with morecommitment and be steadfast in building China’s strength in aerospace tocreate more “Chinese miracles”, state news agency Xinhua said late onMonday.

Xi stressed “military training under combat conditions to build thecountry’s military into a world-class one and improve the country’sstrength in aerospace”, the report added.

“Noting that technology was a core combat capability, Xi called forintensified work to make breakthroughs in core and key technologies so thatChina could take the initiative in international competition,” the newsagency said.

Xi also chatted by video conference with soldiers stationed at an island inthe Paracels, in the disputed South China Sea, asking them how they werepreparing to celebrate the new year, Xinhua said.

China claims a large swathe of the South China Sea and has been ramping upits military deployments there, including reclaiming land on reefs andatolls to build military infrastructure such as air bases.

Xi is expected to visit to other parts of the country before and possiblyduring the holiday. – Agencies