Xi asks China’s military to boost combat capabilities – DW – 10/20/2024

China’s president, Xi Jinping, inspected the facilities of the Chinese military, urging it to increase its deterrence and combat capabilities, the Asian country’s state media reported this Saturday (10/19/2024).

On October 17, Xi visited an unidentified brigade, according to the official agency Xinhua“A strategic missile unit with more than fifty years of history, since 2012, has strengthened its preparation in real combat conditions and has carried out a series of important missions.”

During the inspection, the Chinese president visited the training grounds and inspected “newly introduced weapons and equipment” and later delivered a speech. According to the source, the main interests of the country.

The announcement coincided with recent tensions with Taiwan and the South China Sea region, with frequent skirmishes between Chinese and Philippine ships, prompting protests from regional countries such as Japan and New Zealand.

The rocket force of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is in charge of missiles — both conventional and nuclear — from China, as the country conducted its first public launch in decades on September 25. It launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, equipped with an explosive warhead, into the Pacific Ocean, where it landed in a planned area and was intended to “test the effectiveness of weapons and military training,” according to China’s defense ministry, which was achieved. . The agency has since not specified the path the missile followed or the exact location where it fell.

The extreme transparency of China’s nuclear program has drawn criticism from countries such as the United States, which estimates that China has more than 500 nuclear weapons and that number will double by 2030.

ama (efe, afp, reuters)