Chinese president exhorts military to boost combat readiness

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - Calling for enhanced war and combat readiness, China's president said military issues "must be considered and handled from a political perspective."

"The armed forces must have the courage and ability to fight, and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests," Xi Jinping said Thursday while at an inspection of army forces in the eastern city of Nanjing.

According to the state-run Xinhua news agency, Xi was inspecting the Eastern Theater Command of the country's People's Liberation Army (PLA), responsible for monitoring activities across the Taiwan Strait, including on the island nation of Taiwan which China considers its "breakaway province."

China claims the entire waterway and has frequently objected to the passage of foreign warships through it.

Xi also called for a "strengthening" of the Chinese Communist Party, making the party committee of the Eastern Theater Command "more capable of leading combat readiness."

He lauded the eastern command's "significant contributions" in "safeguarding China's territorial sovereignty, maritime rights and interests as well as national unity," while calling on the military to "break new ground for theater command development and war preparedness."

China has not ruled out the use of force to unify Taiwan, home to around 24 million people, with the mainland.

"As the world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation, China's security situation is facing rising instability and uncertainty," noted Xi, who is also the chairman of China's Central Military Commission.

Urging vigilance against "potential dangers," Xi called on the PLA to enhance "planning of war and combat, strengthening the command system for joint operations, and stepping up training under real combat conditions to raise the forces' capabilities to fight and win."