The leader of China Xi Jinping urges country to prepare for war and increases defense budget. This comes amid growing aggressive rhetoric about Taiwan and even threats to seize the island by force.
Foreign Affairs writes about it.
The publication analyzed Xi Jinpingʼs latest speeches and suggests that he is serious about preparing China for a potential military conflict. He urges his generals to "dare to fight."
In addition, the Chinese government announced a 7.2% increase in the defense budget, as well as plans to make the country less dependent on foreign grain imports. In recent months, Beijing has unveiled new military preparedness laws, new bomb shelters in cities across the Taiwan Strait and new National Defense Mobilization offices across the country.
On March 1, the main theoretical journal of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) published an essay titled "Under the leadership of Xi Jinping, who is thinking about strengthening the military, we will march forward victoriously." The essay, titled "Jun Zheng," states that "the modernization of national defense and the armed forces must be accelerated."
“In the face of a war that can be forced upon us, we must speak to our enemies in a language they understand and use victory to win peace and respect. In the new era, the Peopleʼs Army insists on the use of force to end the struggle,” said the essay, which also listed Chinaʼs past victories.
In December, Beijing unveiled a new law that will allow Chinaʼs Peopleʼs Liberation Army to more easily activate its reserve forces and institutionalize a system to replenish combat units in the event of war. Chinese authorities have also opened numerous national defense mobilization offices — recruiting centers — across the country, including in Beijing, Fujian, Hubei, Hunan, Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Shanghai, Sichuan, Tibet, and Wuhan.
In early March, the Chinese Peopleʼs Political Consultative Conference discussed a plan to create a blacklist of pro-independence activists and political leaders in Taiwan. The plan, proposed by ultra-nationalist blogger Zhou Xiaoping, would allow blacklisted individuals, including Taiwanʼs Vice President William Lai Chinte, to be killed unless they change their behavior. Zhou later told the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao that his proposal had been accepted by the conference and had been "forwarded to the relevant authorities for evaluation and consideration."
The Chinese leader delivered four speeches in the first half of March: one to delegates of the Chinese Peopleʼs Political Consultative Conference, two to deputies of the National Peopleʼs Congress, and one to military and paramilitary leaders. In them, he described a bleak geopolitical landscape, singled out the United States as Chinaʼs adversary, called on private business to serve Chinaʼs military-strategic goals, and reiterated that he sees the unification of Taiwan and the mainland as vital to the success of his policy of achieving the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."
- Chinaʼs ruling Communist Party considers Taiwan, an island with a population of 24 million, as part of its territory. Beijing has promised to "reunify" the island with mainland China. Tensions around Taiwan have increased significantly in 2022. President Biden said that the United States would defend Taiwan in the event of an attack by China.
- In January 2023, the mass media wrote that the Taiwanese government predicted an attack by China in 2027.