Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered the country’s armed forces to get prepared for a “comprehensive military struggle” amid escalating tensions with the United States.
Addressing a meeting of the Central Military Commission in Beijing Friday, the president urged the armed forces to strengthen their sense of urgency and do everything possible to prepare for battle.
Xi said the world is in an era of drastic changes and “China is still in an important period of strategic opportunity for development,” Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying.
He said various predicable and unpredictable risks and challenges have been arising and that the armed forces needed to be able to respond quickly to emergencies and nurture new types of combat forces.
Xi’s remarks follow his speech on the 40th anniversary of a key Taiwan policy statement in which he said Beijing would make no promise to renounce the use of force and reserved the option of taking all necessary means to achieve “reunification” with Taiwan.