After months of intensified and increasingly ambitious drills to project power, Chinese President Xi Jinping, speaking ahead of Tuesday's 96th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), told China's armed forces to speed up modernization.
In his address, Xi said the military must broaden its combat capability and readiness, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
"We need to push for new equipment and new forces to accelerate forming combat capabilities and integrate into the combat system," Xi told the Peoples Liberation Army Air Force's western theatre command during a visit last Wednesday, Xinhua reported on Sunday.
Marking the anniversary on Tuesday, an editorial in the official PLA Daily newspaper said the military had "enhanced its ability to carry out diversified military tasks in a wider space".
China has flaunted its military might this year, ramping up military maneuvers and drills, signaling that its third and most advanced aircraft carrier will soon start sea trials, and tightening its military relationship with Russia.
Some analysts say that the moves reflect China's perception of increased external threats from the United States and its allies, and that Beijing is flexing its military muscle to send political messages.
"The reason is simple: the world is not peaceful and the external environment that China faces continues to deteriorate," said Chinese military analyst Song Zhongping, noting the increasing intensity and frequency of Chinese drills.
The U.S. is also expanding regional deployments and tightening ties with longstanding allies and newer friends - sparking calls from Chinese officials that Washington should steer clear of China's coasts if dialogue between the two militaries is to resume.
Drew Thompson, visiting senior research fellow at National University of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, told Reuters that China's drills represent more of a political message than a military one.
"Everything the PLA (People's Liberation of Army) does is inherently political," Thompson said. "When the Chinese military conducts an exercise, it is showing force - it is bestowing or sending a message to other countries," he said.
LONG-RANGE CAPABILITIES
Starting with the military drill in the Taiwan strait after Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen's meeting with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in April, China has conducted at least a dozen exercises and patrols from the Sea of Japan to the Western Pacific.
At sea, China is readying its aircraft carriers to extend and assert its power beyond its home waters. Although they remain in training mode, Beijing has deployed the Shandong farther into the Pacific than previous sailings.
Regional military attaches and analysts will be scrutinizing the expected sea trial of the more advanced Fujian carrier for signs of technological and operational progress.
State broadcaster CCTV said in June that the sea trial would start "soon" but no date has been fixed.
In the sky, China is fortifying its long-range abilities.
Videos posted online showed China's J-20 stealth jet fighter taking off with domestically produced WS-15 engines, the South China Morning Post reported in early July, while another report said the new engine will put U.S. military bases in South Korea, Japan, and Guam within the range of J-20.
China has worked for decades to build its high-performance jet engines that can compete with Western and Russian models, but the capabilities of the WS-15 are not publicly known.
The refueling variant of its long-range Y-20 cargo aircraft was also displayed in a formation with jet fighters at a recent air show.
"It delivered a positive signal that Chinese air forces can conduct distant sea training and its systematic and long-distance combat capabilities are getting stronger and stronger," state media cited Shi Yunjia, a J-20 pilot, as saying last week.
© Thomson Reuters 2023.
26 Comments
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Larr Flint
Is there anyone beside Africa and some 3rd world countries that listen to Mr. Xi and China?
Their economy is being choked by the US sanctions, most of the foreign factories are moving out.
No want wants more cheap Chinese products anymore, they have nothing to offer.
Mr. Xi is on the verge and the only option he has left on the table is to start a WAR ans take Taiwan. That is the reason he is talking about long range missiles etc.
What a pity the US, Japan and other countries will have to stop this guy instead of his own people.
lincolnman
He ought to demand they comply with his authority - it is clear that the Chinese military refuses to recognize Xi and does what it wants...
They're rogue - and that just ups the chances of some type of military encounter that could spin out of control...
TaiwanIsNotChina
Readiness for what? China needs to be reminded that losing Taiwan, losing the US, probably Japan, probably Australia, and possibly the EU as trading partners is not in their long term interests. It's like China looks at NK and says "there is a model for me".
finally rich
Nonsense. Communists just don't walk away. Never. Like asking a hyena to be quiet and go vegan.
Michael Machida
America is used as an excuse to [get ready] for war. Yet America simply sits back and watches these countries make fools of themselves and watches them shoot themselves in the foot. I guess when you are intimidated by America, you all SH!t in your pants.
OssanAmerica
China, what a peaceful country. Combat readiness for what, other than to invade Taiwan? It sure isn't for defense cause no country on the planet has any interest in invading China.
Eastman
good move.
MichaelBukakis
The only windows for an attack on Taiwan are April, May, and August.
EFD
The Chinese think they are ready for war.
They are not.
Sven Asai
Yes, agreed, they are of course not ready at fullest level, but that’s only a theoretical consideration, because in their position they still have enough population, resources and dictatorial power to develop a fluid war economy in a very short time, even when a war should have been started too early, the whole machinery will be running flawlessly fast and at all cost. Maybe we can watch a smaller sample soon, when Russia has turned all measures into war economy and a wave of hidden produced tanks, drones etc gets into rolling unstoppable up to Kaliningrad or even further. I wouldn’t completely exclude both of such scenarios when it’s about state dictatorships like China or Russia.
Raw Beer
Really? America is behind most (all?) recent conflicts. What do you think cackling Hillary meant when she said "We came, we saw, he died"?
The US keeps on taking about China being a threat, as they arm Taiwan. And obedient Kishida visiting nearby countries discussing "defense". Xi saw how they started the conflict in Ukraine and he knows China might be next.
isabelle
Yes, that's right. China is a threat: Xi himself has said many times that China doesn't renounce the use of force to take Taiwan. So, the US arms Taiwan (with weapons that Taiwan itself requests) to deter the threat.
You've just highlighted the reason why the US arms Taiwan.
Putin started the war in Ukraine. No-one else.
2020hindsights
Raw Beer
Xi saw how Russia started the conflict in Ukraine and is looking to emulate it in Taiwan...
Peter14
Thanks to autocratic nations like China itself, Russia and a few others. China has nobody to blame but its own twisted ambitions of expanding its borders, for where it finds itself opposed by many in the region and beyond. That opposition continues to grow as China continues to "arm up" and prepare itself for a conflict that will begin with Taiwan but not end with Taiwan.
The world is watching you China, it will not believe your words and will continue to monitor your actions.
ian
China is getting stronger.
That's why Japan needs to get stronger too.
Will the people allow it?
Can kishida muster support?
kaimycahl
Xi is telling his troops to mobilize and the people are getting the message those that can leave are getting the hell out!
RichardPearce
Love the Trumplike contempt for the majority of the world, which, BTW, also represents the majority of the world's economy.
That for a large part of my youth, Japan would have been lumped into the scorned category by most Americans and Europeans like Larry shouldn't be overlooked.
Rodney
you do know China has over 40000 boats that can be armed, high tech supersonic weapons and spies in every major western Country
Desert Tortoise
Those 40,000 boats (no exaggeration in the numbers of course ) won't get loaded over night. Troops have to be massed at ports and it takes a time to load troops and equipment. That won't go unnoticed by satellite imagery. A troop movement on the scale necessary to attack Taiwan will be impossible to hide. The US and her allies would have adequate time to reinforce Taiwan and mine the straits.
As for your supersonic weapons bit. the US has these too, SM-6 for example has a surface to surface mode, but I will tell you something. The subsonic weapons find their targets successfully more often than the supersonic ones. The faster you go the less time you have to find a target. Why? Seekers can only see so far. Doesn't matter what you stick the seeker on, the range is a more or less fixed value. But given a seeker range, the faster the weapon the less time is available to conduct a scan, classify what is detected, choose a target and maneuver to hit the target. And obtw, low flying subsonic cruise missiles can be harder to detect and give the target less time to react than the fast movers. The subsonic missiles cost less so you can afford to shoot more. Salvo size matters. There are good reasons why the west has stuck to using subsonic cruise missiles.
Desert Tortoise
Xi certainly has some doubts about the loyalty of the PLA. Number one he certainly remembers the coup attempt that involved some PLA units when he first rose to CCP General Secretary in 2012, and a second coup attempt by the PLA in 2017 that sent four top PLA Generals to jail, one of whom committed suicide before their trial. There is a great deal or lingering resentment within the PLA. They also resent every time the pudgy little puke struts around in a General's uniform since Xi never served in the PLA. He as imprisoned by the Red Guards instead of doing his required time in the PLA then sent to work the fields as part of his re-education. He also probably remembers the PLAs miserable performance against Vietnam in 1979 with corrupt Generals more concerned about protecting their outside business interests than fighting the Vietnamese.
TaiwanIsNotChina
The US isn't "behind" the Ukraine conflict although we are hoping to bring it to the right conclusion.
That's some great 1984 logic that the US will attack China and not China attack Taiwan.
TaiwanIsNotChina
You didn't even read my comment. I guess no helping it. In any event, everyone thought the Red Army was 10 feet tall before it collapsed and we could all see how obsolete their equipment was. The same will be true of China.
Peter Wright
warmongers
stormcrow
Who said, "It will be the Mother of All Battles!" ???
a. Xi Jinping
b. Kim Jung UN
c. Donald Trump
d. All of the above.
TokyoLiving
Take easy Taiwan, take your pills, Looool..