Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has called for “more quickly elevating the armed forces to world-class standards,” in a speech days after he said the country was threatened by a US-led campaign of “containment, encirclement and suppression of China.”
China must maximize its “national strategic capabilities” to “systematically upgrade the country’s overall strength to cope with strategic risks, safeguard strategic interests and realize strategic objectives,” Xi said on Wednesday.
His remarks to delegates in the ceremonial parliament representing the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the military wing of the Chinese Communist Party, and the paramilitary Chinese People’s Armed Police, were carried by Xinhua news agency.
Photo: AP
The program laid out by Xi dovetails with a number of national strategies already under way, including the “Made in China 2025” campaign to make China dominant in 10 key fields from integrated circuits to aerospace, and a decades-old campaign for civilian-military integration in the economy.
Xi also mentioned the need for “achieving the goals for the centenary of the PLA in 2027,” a date by which, according to some US observers, China intends to have the capability of invading Taiwan.
China has defined the centenary goals in mostly vague terms, such as greater “informatization” and raising the PLA to “world-class standards.”
Xi’s most recent comment came after a speech on Monday to delegates attending the annual session of the rubber-stamp Chinese National People’s Congress, that indicated Chinese frustration with US restrictions on access to technology, and its support for Taiwan and regional military blocs in unusually blunt terms.
“Western countries led by the United States have implemented all-round containment, encirclement and suppression of China, which has brought unprecedented grave challenges to our nation’s development,” Xi was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
US Department of State spokesperson Ned Price responded by saying Washington wants to “coexist responsibly” within the global trade and political system, and has no intention of suppressing China.
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