China’s Xi tells troops to focus on war preparations

Chinese troops should “put all [their] minds and energy on preparing for war,” President Xi Jinping said Tuesday during a visit to a Guandong military base.

In his visit, Xi said troops must “maintain a state of high alert” and remain “absolutely loyal, absolutely pure, and absolutely reliable,” according to state news agency Xinhua, as reported by CNN.

Xi’s remarks came the day after the White House said it will sell three advanced weapons systems to Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of the People’s Republic of China. Washington-Beijing tensions have also flared since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, believed to have originated in Wuhan.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian has demanded the U.S. call off the planned arms deal and sever military ties between Washington and Taipei.

China has also increased military exercises in Taiwan, with dozens of Chinese planes crossing the median line separating Taiwan from the Chinese mainland in late September.

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has also accused both China and Russia of attempting to act as a “malign influence” through a combination of their militaries and “predatory economics.”

China and Russia “are using predatory economics, political subversion, and military force in an attempt to shift the balance of power in their favor, and often at the expense of others,” Esper said in September in remarks to the RAND Corporation, according to CNN.