Don’t mess with China, Xi warns on war anniversary
President’s thinly veiled message to US
BEIJING: Seventy years after Chinese troops entered the Korean War to fight against US troops, President Xi Jinping said yesterday that China would never allow its sovereignty, security and development interests to be undermined.
Mr Xi did not directly refer to the present-day United States, with whom relations have sunk to their lowest in decades over disputes ranging from trade and technology to human rights and the coronavirus.
Taiwan has a become a growing point of contention and military tension.
“Let the world know that ‘the people of China are now organised and are not to be trifled with’,” Mr Xi said at the Great Hall of the People, quoting Mao Zedong, the founding father of the People’s Republic of China.
Unilateralism, protectionism and bullying would fail, Mr Xi said on the anniversary of the deployment of
Chinese troops to the Korean peninsula to help North Korea fight US-led United Nations and South Korean forces during the 1950-53 conflict.
Mr Xi repeated his call to expedite the modernisation of the country’s defence and armed forces. “Without a strong army, there can be no strong motherland,” he said.
Tensions have risen sharply in recent months over Taiwan, with Washington stepping up sales of military hardware to the democratically-ruled island and sending high-level officials to visit. This week, Washington approved the sale of weapons systems worth up to $1.8 billion (56.25 billion baht), angering China.
China, which considers Taiwan a wayward province, has been applying increasing pressure to accept Beijing’s sovereignty, including flying fighter jets across the mid-line of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial buffer.
North Korea went to war in 1950 with the South, which was backed by United Nations forces comprising mainly US troops. In October 1950, Chinese troops crossed the Yalu River on the border with North Korea while the Soviets provided air cover.
More than two million Chinese troops were deployed.