China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) should focus on preparing for future engagements in real-life hostilities, the country's President Xi Jinping has stated in his speech at a seminar on the reform of national defense and the armed forces.
The president delivered new instructions to the military as a part of his message dedicated to the ongoing reform of the PLA. The military reforms were launched in 2015 and include a number of restructuring and modernization efforts, as well as a feedback mechanism through which Chinese service personnel can file optimization proposals for the military force.
The reform is expected to reduce the size of the army while upgrading PLA overall military capabilities. The overhaul also involves the creation of entirely new types of troops, such as cyberwarfare forces and separation of the strategic armaments into a separate branch for better control.
The changes that Xi has in mind for the military are aimed at making the PLA a viable and capable force in the face of a serious rival armed with advanced weapons.
The reform and modernization are expected to largely wind up by 2035. In his address to the seminar, the president did not elaborate on his call to prepare for a real-life confrontation. Nor did he warn of any imminent conflicts that might involve China.
The Chinese military, however, routinely encounters tensions with US forces in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait where Washington sends its warships under the pretext of freedom of navigation missions. Beijing repeatedly cautions the US against such "provocations", noting that they might one day accidentally lead to an armed standoff.
Sino-US relations were put to a major test this August after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi decided to visit Taiwan – an island which Beijing deems an inalienable part of its territory. China accused the US of violating the One-China principle and playing with "Taiwan independence" forces, as well as calling Pelosi's behavior unacceptable and provocative.