Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that he is preparing for war, Foreign Affairs reports.
At the annual meeting of China's parliament and its top political advisory body in March, Xi Jinping addressed the topic of war preparations in four separate speeches. In one of them, the Chinese leader is said to have called on his generals to "dare to fight."
The Chinese government announced at the meeting that it had increased its defense budget by 7.2%, more than doubling over the past decade. The country plans to become less dependent on grain imports from abroad. In addition, Beijing has announced new laws on military training in recent months.
It is also known that new bomb shelters are being built in cities across the Taiwan Strait and new National Defense Mobilization offices are being established across the country.
“It is too early to say for certain what these developments mean. Conflict is not certain or imminent. But something has changed in Beijing that policymakers and business leaders worldwide cannot afford to ignore. If Xi says he is readying for war, it would be foolish not to take him at his word," writes Foreign Affairs.
Comments (0)