President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) has urged China's 2.5 million-member military to ensure national unity by beefing up its combat skills, amid harsh warnings to Taiwan against moving toward formal independence.
"We must strive to improve the capability of the armed forces to deal with crises, maintain peace, contain conflicts and win wars," Hu was quoted as saying in Sunday's official People's Liberation Army Daily and other newspapers.
Hu's comments on Saturday to China's top brass contained few specifics and he was not quoted as directly mentioning Taiwan.
However, China's recent military buildup -- including a 14.7 percent increase in military spending this year -- is believed to be largely directed at Taiwan.
China has lambasted President Chen Shui-bian (
"We must resolutely carry out our sacred responsibility of defending national sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity and security," said Hu, pictured wearing an army green uniform without insignia as chairman of the Central Military Commission, which controls the military.
Hu told the group of senior officers the next five years will be a "an important period" for the nation's military modernization.
"The 11th five-year plan [from 2006 to 2010] is a crucial period for the establishment of a comparatively prosperous society," Hu said, according to the People's Daily, the Communist Party's mouthpiece.
"It is also an important period for defense and army modernization," he told the officers, assembled in Beijing as delegates to the ongoing National People's Congress.
China announced last week that its military budget for this year would rise to US$35 billion, the latest in a series of double-digit annual increases dating back to the early 1990s.
A Pentagon report last year estimated that China's defense spending was two to three times the publicly announced figure and that the military balance with Taiwan was tipping in Beijing's favor.
"We must persist in fulfilling the sacred task of defending national sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity and security," Hu said, according to the People's Daily.
Hu said efforts should be stepped up to equip the army with modern information technology and to improve its combat efficiency through high-tech means.
"We should strive to improve the capability of the armed forces to deal with crises, maintain peace, contain wars and win victory in possible wars," he said.
Inspired by swift US victories in post-Cold War conflicts, China has been striving to transform its military from an organization that relied on strength in numbers to a leaner, more sophisticated fighting force.
It announced in January it had demobilized 200,000 members of its military over the previous three years, but even after those personnel cuts, it remained the world's largest with 2.3 million troops.
Hu is believed to be faced with the challenge of creating a loyal following among the nation's top brass.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
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STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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