China’s president has asked the military to step up “real combat” training amid tensions over Taiwan and after three days of exercises to pressure the island, state television CCTV reported on Wednesday.
The military must “vigorously defend our territorial sovereignty and China’s maritime rights and interests, and maintain the overall stability of our neighborhood,” Xi Jinping was quoted as saying by the French news agency AFP.
Xi’s comments were made on Tuesday during a visit to the Southern Command in Zhanjiang, in the southwestern province of Guangdong, near the island of Hainan, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
China considers Taiwan a province that has not yet managed to reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.
The island, currently home to 23 million people, has lived autonomously ever since, but Beijing claims sovereignty and threatens to seize it by force if it declares independence.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen was in the United States last week, where she met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Beijing viewed the meeting as a provocation.
In retaliation, the Chinese military organized military exercises in Taiwan.
The exercises, which ended on Monday, included warships, fast missile boats and fighter jets.
The comments reported by CCTV, without explicitly mentioning Taiwan, are the first by the Chinese leader since the military exercises.
Taiwan has been at the center of disagreements between China and the United States, the island’s main ally and arms supplier.
China is unhappy with the rapprochement in recent years between the Taiwanese authorities and the United States, despite the absence of formal relations between Taipei and Washington.
Last summer, China conducted unprecedented military exercises around Taiwan and fired missiles in response to a visit to the island by Nancy Pelosi, McCarthy’s predecessor in the House of Representatives.
Xi’s comments also coincided with the start of the largest joint US-Philippines military exercises.
The two historical allies seek, through these exercises, to strengthen coordination to counter China’s influence in the region.
The Philippines’ proximity to Taiwan could make the Southeast Asian country a key US partner in the event of a Chinese invasion of the island.
In early April, the Philippines announced the location of four new military bases that could be used by the United States.
One of these bases is located near the disputed South China Sea and another not far from Taiwan.
China criticized the deal for “undermining regional peace and stability.”
Source: TSF
