Thread: Xi Calls for Strong Army, Tells China Troops 'World Isn't Safe'

Xi Calls for Strong Army, Tells China Troops 'World Isn't Safe'

Bloomberg News30 juillet 2017 à 05:54 UTC+2

President Xi Jinping said China needs to speed up the modernization of its military to fend off threats in increasingly dangerous times.
“The world isn’t safe at this moment" Xi, wearing a camouflauge military uniform, said on Sunday after riding in an open jeep at an army parade in Inner Mongolia. “A strong army is needed now more than ever."

The speech came just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump lambasted China for failing to do more to stop North Korea’s nuclear program, saying “we will no longer allow this to continue.” North Korea, which relies on ally China for food and fuel, test-fired a second intercontinental ballistic missile late on Friday night.

Over the past two years, Xi has overseen the most sweeping changes to China’s military since the 1950s in an effort to create a fighting force that can win modern wars. The modernization drive, which has focused on expanding China’s air and naval reach, is challenging more than 70 years of U.S. military dominance in the Western Pacific.

The parade at Zhurihe Training Base on Sunday marked the 90th anniversary of the creation of the People’s Liberation Army. It featured the Chengdu J-20, China’s stealth jet fighter that some have compared to the F-22 Raptor. About 40 percent of the military equipment in the parade was publicly displayed for the first time, according to Phoenix TV, a pro-Beijing media outlet.

Two decades of budget increases on the back of surging economic growth have turned China into the world’s second-largest military spender. China’s neighbors have grown increasingly worried about its increased assertiveness over disputed territory in recent years.

Troops stand in formation during a military parade.

Photographer: Wang Jianhua/Xinhua via EPA

Xi is reducing the 2.3-million strong force by 300,000 troops, mostly from the army, while expanding the navy and adding new rocket, cyber and outer-space capabilities. He’s cut the number of military regions to five from seven “joint theater commands,” and strengthened China’s Central Military Commission, the Communist Party body that runs the military.

China’s military will remain by far the world’s largest, with more than 600,000 more active service members than the U.S., according to estimates by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

The primary goal of the PLA is to ensure the Communist Party stays in power -- a mission Xi reminded troops of on Sunday.
“Heed the party’s order forever, follow the party’s step forever, and always fight toward the direction where the party points,” Xi said.

China Parades New Missile in Warning to Rivals Abroad—and at Home

Military display is latest effort by President Xi Jinping to improve standing as party leadership shuffle looms

By Jeremy Page

July 30, 2017 6:15 a.m. ET160 COMMENTS


BEIJING—China unveiled a new, more mobile intercontinental ballistic missile at a parade of advanced weaponry and combat troops, in President Xi Jinping’s latest display of military—and political—muscle.

State television showed at least 16 DF-31AG missiles in Sunday’s parade at the Zhurihe combat-training base in northern China, marking the 90th anniversary of the founding of the force that is now known as the People’s Liberation Army.
The DF-31AG is mounted on an all-terrain vehicle so it is harder to track and can be fired from multiple locations, and it could have a longer range than the older DF-31A, which was also displayed and is carried by a vehicle designed mainly for roads, military experts say.

Mr. Xi, wearing combat fatigues and a peaked cap, inspected the troops from an open-top military vehicle before the parade, which featured tanks, helicopters, stealth jet fighters and some 12,000 personnel.

“The world is not peaceful,” Mr. Xi in a speech afterward that invoked his signature political idea of a “China Dream” to build the country into a global economic and military power. “Today we are closer than any other period in history to the goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and we need more than any period in history to build a strong people’s military.”


Mr. Xi also ordered troops to obey the Communist Party leadership, saying: “Wherever the party points, march there.”

It is the first time a parade has been held to mark the anniversary since 1949, according to state media, and is the latest in a series of moves that analysts say are designed to boost Mr. Xi’s political standing in the run-up to a reshuffle of the party’s leadership this year.

The parade also came amid escalating military tensions in the region, with North Korea accelerating its nuclear-weapons program since January through a series of tests, including the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned repeatedly that he is weighing military action to halt North Korea’s nuclear program, and in recent weeks has become increasingly critical of China, accusing them of failing to rein in Pyongyang. The U.S. Air Force flew two B-1B bombers over the Korean Peninsula on Saturday in direct response to North Korea’s latest missile test.

“I am very disappointed in China. Our foolish past leaders have allowed them to make hundreds of billions of dollars a year in trade, yet they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk,” Mr. Trump wrote in a pair of posts on his Twitter account. “We will no longer allow this to continue. China could easily solve this problem!”

China’s parade would have been planned months in advance, analysts said, and wasn’t a direct response to Pyongyang or Washington, but it demonstrated Mr. Xi’s efforts to build a military that can respond to external challenges—including on the Korean Peninsula.

Last year, the Chinese leader launched sweeping military reforms—including cutting 300,000 troops—that are designed to overhaul Soviet-modeled command structures and better prepare the armed forces for combat, at home and abroad if needed.

The PLA is training for scenarios that include a conflict over the disputed South China Sea, a blockade of China’s oil supplies through the Indian Ocean, and operations to protect its citizens and investments in Africa and the Middle East.

Mr. Xi has also sought to assert his authority over the PLA through an anticorruption campaign that ensnared several current and retired generals, and by assuming the new title of “commander-in-chief” last year.

In June, he inspected PLA troops stationed in Hong Kong in another move to boost his political stature ahead of this fall’s 19th Party Congress, where he’s expected to try to promote allies to the top leadership.

“By presiding over a landmark parade for a party-loyal PLA growing leaner and meaner by his orders, Xi shows that he is large and in charge in the run-up to the 19th Congress,” said Andrew Erickson, an expert on China’s military at the U.S. Naval War College. “Debuting publicly such a powerful, penetrating deterrent weapon as the DF-31AG ICBM seeks to demonstrate that China commands heightened respect abroad even as it maintains order at home—both central components of Xi’s China Dream.”

China's People's Liberation Army soldiers get ready for Sunday’s military parade. PHOTO: CHINA DAILY/REUTERS


China hasn’t provided any details about the DF-31AG, but a model was displayed for the first time this month in an exhibition at Beijing’s Military Museum. Analysts say the missile’s design and name suggest it is an improved version of the DF-31A, but beyond its improved survivability and possibly longer range, it remains unclear what the enhancements are.

China has an estimated 75 to 100 intercontinental ballistic missiles, including the solid-fueled DF-31A, which has a range of more than 7000 miles and can reach most locations in the continental U.S., according to the Pentagon.

Other equipment in the parade included five J-20 stealth jet fighters and several DF-21D antiship ballistic missiles, which experts say are designed to hit approaching U.S. aircraft carriers in a potential conflict.

Chinese state television said more than 40 percent of the equipment in the parade was being displayed for the first time, but didn’t provide details of every piece of new w

Troops in the parade came from the army, navy and air force but also from two new services created about 18 months ago—the rocket force, which controls conventional and nuclear missiles, and the strategic support force, which handles electronic warfare.

Electronic weaponry on display included equipment designed for electromagnetic countermeasures and aerial drones that can be used for radar-jamming, state television said, without providing details.

China Parades New Missile in Warning to Rivals ... - Wall Street Journal

Donald Trump Warns China on North Korea: ‘We Will No Longer Allow This to Continue’

Pair of posts on Twitter signal U.S. president’s dissatisfaction with perceived Chinese inaction against Pyongyang

By Rebecca Ballhaus

Updated July 29, 2017 11:11 p.m. ET838 COMMENTS


President Donald Trump on Saturday signaled his chagrin at what he described as China’s inaction on North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic-missile ambitions.

“I am very disappointed in China. Our foolish past leaders have allowed them to make hundreds of billions of dollars a year in trade, yet they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk,” Mr. Trump wrote in a pair of posts on his Twitter account. “We will no longer allow this to continue. China could easily solve this problem!”

On Friday, North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile that experts said put the continental U.S. in range of a strike, illustrating rapid advancements in technology and intensifying Pyongyang’s standoff with Washington.

Following the launch, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged world leaders to tighten United Nations sanctions on North Korea and singled out Russia and China for not doing enough to contain Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.

“As the principal economic enablers of North Korea’s nuclear-weapon and ballistic-missile development program, China and Russia bear unique and special responsibility for this growing threat to regional and global stability,” he said.

A spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry said Beijing was opposed to any further North Korean missile launches and urged all sides to “act cautiously” to avoid further inflaming tensions on the peninsula.


On Saturday, two U.S. bombers performed a flyover of the Korean Peninsula in what the U.S. Air Force said was a response to Pyongyang’s Friday missile test.

Earlier in the year, Mr. Trump had touted his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who visited Mr. Trump at his Florida resort in April, where the two agreed to work together to address North Korea’s nuclear-weapon and missile programs. But in June, Mr. Trump suggested the joint effort had proved unsuccessful.

“While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out,” Mr. Trump said in a Twitter post on June 20. “At least I know China tried.”

The Trump administration’s efforts to recast trade ties with Beijing also suffered a setback earlier this month, when high-level economic talks between the two nations ended without any concrete agreement or future agenda.

After a full day of bilateral meetings, the U.S. side issued a terse statement saying that “China acknowledged our shared objective to reduce the trade deficit which both sides will work cooperatively to achieve.”

The statement from Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin didn’t provide further details on just how much the two sides could agree on, or when they would resume talks.

Donald Trump Warns China on North Korea: 'We Will No Longer Allow ...