Xi Jinping tells the Chinese Marine Corps to prepare for war

President Xi Jinping is not satisfied. Despite months of intense practice, his elite Marine Corps troops are not up to the task. So he urged them to “focus their minds and energy on … the war.”

During an inspection by the China People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Marine Corps in Chaozhou city, Guangdong, on Tuesday, Xi told his troops: “Focus your minds and energy on preparing for war and remain very vigilant. “.

The Marines must be a “multifunctional, rapid-response, all-weather, region-wide force,” he said. His “important responsibility” was to safeguard Chinese territory, maritime interests and international interests.

“Marines have many different missions, and your demands will vary. As such, Marines must base their training on battle … and raise standards of training and combat capability,” he said.

This followed the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the war against Japan, where Xi declared that China would never accept any force that seeks to “intimidate” and “impose” its will on China.

The belligerence of the authoritarian leader has ignited the state media controlled by the Communist Party.

“The [chances of the] The Chinese mainland forced into war has grown considerably in recent times, “the Beijing-based editor of the Global Times said last week.

“China must be militarily and morally prepared for a possible war.”

On Wednesday, the US destroyer USS Barry exercised its right under the international law of the sea to pass through the Taiwan Strait just days after a similar move near the disputed Paracel Islands. The Beijing-based CGTN network reacted by calling it a provocation and violation of sovereignty.

‘Troubled Waters’

It is not the first time that Xi has raised the possibility of a war.

“An army is made to fight,” he boldly declared at the 19th Congress of the Communist Party in October 2017. The People’s Liberation Army must “regard combat ability as the criterion to meet in all its work” and focus on “winning. wars “. He declared that by 2035, “the modernization of our national defense and our forces” will be “basically complete.”

Xi has maintained a message of hostility and deadlines ever since.

And he has been eager to exercise that power.

China’s military has begun to expand the long-established borders in the Himalayan mountains against India, Myanmar and Tibet. It has been a challenge for Japan in the East China Sea. He continued his push for control of the South China Sea.

In May this year, Xi told his two-million-strong army that it must “prepare for worst-case scenarios, increase training and battle readiness, deal quickly and effectively with all kinds of complex situations, and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests “.

In March, Xi told an audience in Beijing that China would “wage the bloody battle against our enemies” and would not give up “a single inch of land” with respect to Hong Kong, Taiwan and their many unilateral territorial claims.

“We are determined to fight the bloody battle against our enemies … with a strong determination to take our place in the world,” he said. “The Chinese people have strong determination, full confidence, and all the ability to triumph over all these separatist actions. The Chinese people and the Chinese nation have a shared conviction that not a single inch of our land will and cannot be ceded to China. “. “

Wolf in chief

The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, now subject to Beijing’s national security laws, reports that Chinese military commentators interpret the visit by the marine unit as a sign that Xi was not satisfied with its progress.

Amphibious shock troops will be the spearhead of any attempt to “reunify Taiwan with the mainland.”

“Carrying out amphibious operations in Taiwan’s reunification plan is just one of the missions of the Marine Corps,” said Beijing-based naval specialist Li Jie. “The Marine Corps needs to step up its modern warfare program, not just in terms of size but also in terms of hardware and software upgrades.”

China’s Marine Corps has been the subject of Beijing’s most significant military investment in recent years. The number of troops has increased dramatically and a number of new modern ships, tanks and aircraft have been built for their use.

Its forces have featured prominently in massive and ongoing military exercises designed to intimidate the island’s democracy in recent months. Images of the war games were released over the weekend in a propaganda assault on the Taiwan Double Tenth holiday celebrating the founding of the ROC in 1911.

Xi has reserved his most heated rhetoric for Taipei.

“We must safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country and achieve the total reunification of the homeland,” he said in May. “This is the aspiration of all the Chinese people, and this is also in line with the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation. Faced with this very important issue of our nation and history, any action that aims to separate the country is doomed to failure”. “

‘Everything under the sky’

Xi’s vision of “A Community of Common Destiny for Humanity” has become a familiar refrain in state-controlled media and diplomatic circles.

“It is this idea that everyone under heaven is a family that should guide the people of the world so that we can embrace each other with open arms, come to understand each other and create common ground, putting aside our differences,” he pronounced in 2017.

It is a “community with a shared future for humanity” where the rule of international law is based on a cornerstone of Chinese characteristics, standards and wisdom. It is a major departure from Beijing’s earlier approach “A harmonious world … while differences are reserved.”

Instead, analysts argue, it is now a world centered on Beijing.

“China’s vision of a world order is one in which countries defend themselves and work their way into an international system as individuals,” writes Bill Hayton, author of The Invention of China, for the Lowy Institute. “This is clearly a view in which large countries matter more than small or medium-sized ones. It fits perfectly with the idea of ​​a regional, or even a global hierarchy, one in which Beijing is at the top. It is a hierarchy open to everyone, as long as everyone knows their place. “

And that has profound implications for the future, warns the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in a recent report.

“The ambitions expressed by Xi Jinping at the 19th Party Congress underscore that Washington and its allies face a global strategic rivalry driven both by ideology and values ​​embodied in competing national governance systems and by perceptions of power dynamics. changing, “he said.

Era of empire

Since taking over the reins in 2012, Xi has lured his people with a return to the glory days of their emperors. It has awakened a nationalistic fervor through the sense of Chinese history. He promised the end of the so-called “century of humiliation” that began with Britain’s defeat in the First Opium War of 1842. His goal is the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” by 2049, the centenary of the founding. of the People’s Republic of China.

Xi has been relentless in his ambition.

Perhaps that is why he emphasized the need to maintain “the absolute leadership of the Party over the armed forces, ensuring that the military must be loyal, pure and trustworthy” in his address to the Marines on Tuesday.

The son of a supporter, Xi has eliminated or silenced his political competitors and built a cult of personality like no other since the days of Chairman Mao Zedong.

The 66-year-old has removed term limits for secretary general from the constitution, essentially naming himself leader for life. And it has been consolidating all branches of government, including the police, under its control.

Meanwhile, he has wanted to ensure that “a correct perspective of the country, history and nationality” is stamped on his nation and its international position.

“We have no intention of waging a Cold War or a hot war with any country,” Xi told the United Nations 75th anniversary event in September. No nation should “be able to do what it wants and be the hegemony, the bully or the boss of the world,” he said. “Let us join hands to defend the values ​​of peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom that we all share and to build a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for humanity.”