China must boost military spending to prepare for a possible confrontation with the US, top Chinese generals said, in an unusual acknowledgment of the risk of a clash between the world’s two largest economies.
The two generals — members of the Central Military Commission (CMC) led by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — made the comments during the annual national legislative session in Beijing.
CMC Vice Chairman Xu Qiliang (許其亮), China’s top uniformed officer, said the country needed to brace for a “Thucydides trap,” an inevitable conflict between a rising power and an established one.
“Facing the Thucydides trap and border disturbances, the military must step up its efforts to improve its capabilities,” Xu said on Friday, although the transcript was not released until later. “The most important thing is internal unity, and cohesion and improvement of overall capabilities. If you are strong, you will have long-term stability, as well as invincibility.”
Xu’s reference to “border disturbances” may be an allusion to China’s deadly clash with India last year, as well as territorial disputes in the South and East China seas. Chinese Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe (魏鳳和), who also sits on the CMC, said separately that “containment and counter-containment will be the main tone of bilateral ties between China and US.”
Xi yesterday said tha the country’s security situation faces “relatively big instability and uncertainty” at a group discussion during the legislative session, without elaborating, state broadcaster China Central Television reported.
He urged the army to coordinate priorities of military construction and war preparedness, and to get ready to “face up to various kinds of complexities and difficulties at any time.”
The remarks represented a rare admission from China about the growing risk of a confrontation with the US after escalating disputes under former US president Donald Trump over everything from trade to Taiwan.
Chinese leaders have repeatedly played down the risk a Thucydides Trap, with Xi saying during 2015 a visit to the US that such a conflict was not inevitable so long as countries avoided strategic miscalculations.
A national security strategy document released last week by US President Joe Biden affirmed Trump’s designation of China as a “strategic competitor.”
The strategy seeks to put less emphasis on using the US military to resolve conflicts and pledges to work with “like-minded countries” to forge a common approach to Beijing.
Xi has vowed to make China a great military power, pledging to complete the modernization of the armed forces by 2035 and build a world-class military capable of winning wars across all theaters by 2050.
China projected defense spending growth of 6.8 percent this year, up from 6.6 percent last year, the slowest pace in three decades.
Wei said struggles over containment efforts would “last throughout the whole process of China’s national rejuvenation.”
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique