“Put all minds and energy on preparing for war”: Xi Jinping to PLA

Chinese President XI Jinping has called on troops of the
People’s Liberation Army of China to “put all minds and energy on
preparing for war” during his visit to a military base in the southern province
of Guangdong on Tuesday, as per Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

The Chinese head of state, during an inspection of the Chinese
Army Marine Corps in Chaozhou City, Xinhua, ordered soldiers to “maintain
a state of high alert” and also directed them to be “absolutely
loyal, absolutely pure, and absolutely reliable.”

The main purpose behind Xi’s visit was to commemorate the
40th anniversary of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, which was established
in 1980 to entice foreign investors played a pivotal role in thrusting the
Chinese economy to become the second-largest in the world.

The visit comes amid escalating tensions between China and
US, with disagreements over Taiwan being the latest flash-point between the two
superpowers.

The White House on Monday had informed the US Congress that
it was planning to progress with the sale of three advanced weapon systems to
Taiwan, as per a CNN report.

The deal will also feature the advanced High Mobility
Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS.)

The US move has elicited a stern reaction from the Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian who called upon Washington to
“immediately cancel any arms sales plans to Taiwan” and order the US
to sever all ” US-Taiwan military ties,” as per a CNN report.

While Taiwan has never been controlled by China’s ruling
Communist Party, authorities in Beijing assert their claim of the democratic island, which it considers an integral part of its territory. President XI has
also refused to rule out a military capture of the island if necessary, as per
a CNN report.

Amidst the growing disdain of Taiwan-US ties by China,
relations between the Washington and Taipei has flourished under the Trump
administration, as per a CNN report.

In August, US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar
became the highest-level US official to visit the country in decades.

The move extracted a response from China who increased
military drills around Taiwan, as per CNN report. Almost 40 Chinese warplanes
crossed the mainland and Taiwan on September 18-19, as per a CNN report.
Taiwan’s President Tsai
Ing-wen has decried the actions of China as a ‘threat of force.”

The US-China feud further escalated when US Secretary of
Defence Mark Esper labelled China as a “malign influence” and added
that Beijing “cannot match the United States.”

Esper further accused China and Russia of, ” using predatory economics, political subversion, and military force
in an attempt to shift the balance of power in their favour, and often at the expense of others,” as per a CNN report.

Esper had also announced the “Battle Force 2045”
in early October, which calls for an expanded and modernised US Navy of 500
manned and unmanned vessels by 2045.