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Choi Chi-yuk

Strengthening training and preparation for war are among the top priorities for China’s military in 2019, its official newspaper said on Tuesday.
“Drilling soldiers and war preparations are the fundamental jobs and work focus of our military, and at no time should we allow any slack in these areas,” the PLA Daily said in its New Year’s Day editorial.
“We should be well prepared for all directions of military struggle and comprehensively improve troops’ combat response in emergencies … to ensure we can meet the challenge and win when there is a situation.”
Other priorities outlined in the editorial included thorough planning and implementation to develop the military, fostering reform and innovation, and party building within the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).


President Xi Jinping, who also heads the military, has been pushing the PLA to boost its combat readiness since he took the top job in late 2012. Observers said stepping up drills could be about flexing the PLA’s military muscle, but spelling it out at the start of the year also suggested it was a more important part of the plan for 2019.
“During the 20 years I spent in the PLA before I left in 2004, military training to boost combat readiness was always one of our top tasks,” said Zeng Zhiping, a retired lieutenant colonel and military analyst based in Nanchang, Jiangxi province.
“But this is something different. When training and preparation for war is highlighted at the beginning of a year it means this is a plan for the whole year, although we don’t know what the real intention behind the rhetoric is at this stage.”
Britain’s planned naval base in Southeast Asia seen as ‘muscle-flexing’ against China
Taiwan’s former deputy defence minister Lin Chong-Pin said it was about showing the PLA’s military strength.
“Prioritising military training and preparation for war is nothing more than a move to boost its diplomatic strength, which the PLA has been emphasising over the past four decades – though it has never gone into battle with any other country during that time,” Lin said.
“This comes at a time when the US has increased pressure on China with a series of military operations. But listen, I’m 100 per cent sure that the PLA will not be waging any war, no matter whether it’s in the South China Sea or the Taiwan Strait. It will only become more cautious when it starts rising more rapidly.”


Meanwhile, at least 38 senior colonels were promoted to the rank of major general in late December, according to local media and Chinese military watchers.
Lin said they were carefully selected by the president himself. “These new major generals were definitely hand-picked by Xi – he intends to build his own army, or the so-called Xi force,” Lin said.
Chinese missile force puts new Russian S-400 air defence system to the test
Of those promoted to major general, nine were from the PLA’s ground forces, four were from the air force, three were from the rocket force and 22 from the People’s Armed Police Force.
The military has undergone major upheaval and reform during the past six years, with dozens of generals brought down amid an unprecedented anti-corruption campaign.
They include top generals Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou, both former Central Military Commission vice-chairmen, Fang Fenghui, who was the PLA chief of staff, and Zhang Yang, former head of the PLA’s General Political Department.


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China’s military

China’s military priorities for 2019: boost training and prepare for war

President Xi Jinping has been pushing the PLA to boost its combat readiness since he took the top job in late 2012. Photo: Xinhua

As China tests military muscle, PLA warns Taiwan efforts to resist reunification with force are dead end

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PLA Su-30 fighter jets. Photo: HANDOUT

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A Type 001A aircraft carrier lifts anchor in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning province, in May. Photo: Xinhua via AP

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China's first domestically built aircraft carrier, the Type 001A, is being towed off dock by ships for the second sea trial at the shipyard of Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd. in Dalian city, northeast China's Liaoning province, 26 August 2018.

Type 055 destroyer, which started its maiden trial. Photo: Handout

China Type 095 submarine. Photo: Handout

Is the Chinese military’s off-road sport utility vehicle the toughest on the planet?

Just 1,500 civilian model BJ80s were sold in China last year. Photo: Alamy

This combo photo shows of BJ80 (below) and Mercedes’ G series for comparison. Photo: HANDOUT

Chinese President Xi Jinping inspects troops of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Sunday, July 30, 2017 during a military parade to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the PLA on Aug. 1 at Zhurihe training base in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Â  (Xinhua) (BJ80)

Indonesia opens military base on edge of South China Sea to ‘deter security threats’

Indonesian President Joko Widodo on a warship near the Natuna Islands. Photo: Handout

Chief of Indonesia Air Forces Hadi Tjahjanto (L) stands beside the head of Indonesia Armed Forces General Gatot Nurmantyo during commemoration day of the birth of Prophet Muhammad, in Bogor, Indonesia November 30, 2017 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Picture taken November 30, 2017. Antara Foto/Puspa Perwitasari/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. INDONESIA OUT.

Japan unveils record US$47 billion defence budget aimed at countering China’s military rise

A mock-up of a F-35 fighter jet is displayed at Japan International Aerospace Exhibition in Tokyo. Japan has announced a record US$47 billion defence budget. Photo: Reuters

Japanese Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya delivers a statement during his Q and A session with journalists following a US military aircraft crash, at the parliament in Tokyo on December 6, 2018. - Rescue operations were underway on December 6 for six US marines missing after two American military aircraft crashed during a refuelling operation off the coast of Japan, the Japanese defence minister said. (Photo by - / JIJI PRESS / AFP) / Japan OUT

FILE PHOTO: Japanese helicopter carrier Kaga (front) Japanese destroyer Inazuma (C) and British frigate HMS Argyll take part in a joint naval drill in the Indian Ocean, September 26, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo

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China

Military

Politics

Diplomacy


PLA’s official newspaper outlines ‘work focus’ in New Year’s Day editorial, saying ‘at no time should we allow any slack in these areas’



PLA’s official newspaper outlines ‘work focus’ in New Year’s Day editorial, saying ‘at no time should we allow any slack in these areas’.


Xi Jinping

South China Sea