Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Sunday that the Chinese military headed by him will intensify troop training and combat preparedness to “fight and win” besides creating a strong system of “strategic deterrence.” Xi said this while presenting his work report to the once-in-a-five-year Congress of the ruling Communist Party which began its week-long session here on Sunday.
“We will intensify troop training and enhance combat preparedness across the board to see that our people’s armed forces can fight and win,” he said. In the 63-page report, Xi, who also heads the Central Military Commission (CMC) — the overall high command of the two million-strong People’s Liberation Army (PLA) — devoted a special section to the military titled “Achieving the Central Goal of the PLA and Further Modernising National Defence and Military”.
The plans outlined by him acquire significance for the Indian military forces considering the frictions at the Sino-Indian border, especially in eastern Ladakh since May 2020 triggered by offensive actions by the PLA that had strained bilateral ties. Both sides resolved some of the issues through 16 rounds of talks and agreed to hold more talks to resolve the pending issues.
In his report, Xi said achieving the goals for the centenary of the PLA in 2027 and more quickly elevating China’s People’s armed forces to world-class standards are strategic tasks for building a modern socialist country in all respects.
“We will establish a strong system of strategic deterrence, increase the proportion of new domain forces with new combat capabilities, speed up the development of unmanned, intelligent combat capabilities and promote coordinated development and application of the network information system,” he said.
“We will improve the command system for joint operations and enhance our system and capacity for reconnaissance and early warning, joint strikes, battlefield support and integrated logistics support,” he said. Xi said the PLA will intensify military training under combat conditions, laying emphasis on joint force-on-force training and high-tech training.
Xi’s remarks also assume significance amid China’s rising military manoeuvring in the resource-rich Indo-Pacific region. China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it. Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in the South China Sea. China also has territorial disputes with Japan in the East China Sea.