Photos of Xi, who recently secured a third term as party leader, in his military uniform during a visit to a command center appeared prominently on the front page of the People’s Daily on Wednesday. Xi said the military must “fully strengthen military training to prepare for war,” warning at a recent party congress of “dangerous storms” on the horizon. “Focus everything [your] energy in battle, worked hard in battle and improved [your] ability to win,” he was quoted as saying. The military must also “resolutely defend national sovereignty and national security” as China was in an “unstable and uncertain” security situation, he was quoted as saying. While Xi also ordered the military to focus on war preparations in 2013, soon after taking power, and again in 2017, political analysts say he has significantly stepped up his rhetoric this time around. In a similar visit to the command center in 2016, he told officers to be “loyal” and “inventive” in battle and “courageous and able to win wars.” “It sends a message to the United States and Taiwan,” said Willy Lam, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation. Although China’s military power was not yet on par with the US, Xi’s decision-making was not always based on rational calculations, he said. Xi made a veiled attack on increasingly vocal US support for Taipei at the party’s 20th congress, which concluded in Beijing last month, blaming “foreign interference” for worsening tensions. Xi sees the occupation of Taiwan as a key part of his legacy and said in his opening speech at the conference: “We will never promise to renounce the use of force.” Could Xi follow Putin’s example and try to annex Taiwan? – video explanation Joe Biden has repeatedly pledged that the US would defend Taiwan if attacked. After US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August, the People’s Liberation Army reportedly moved several warships and planes near the middle line, an unofficial border between China and Taiwan in the Taiwan Strait. Xi in recent months has used increasingly aggressive tones to urge his officials to “dare to fight” and strengthen their “fighting spirit” to defend national interests in a hostile political environment. In his opening speech at the party congress, he used the word douzheng (“struggle”) 17 times, which reflected Mao Zedong’s emphasis on “class struggle” and the fight against foreign, imperialist influence, and used the word for the safety”. “about 50 times. This week, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman criticized UK Trade Secretary Greg Hunt’s visit to Taiwan and told the British government to “stop sending the wrong message to separatist forces about Taiwan independence”.
