Daily Mail

Xi tells China: We must get ready for war

- By Rachael Bunyan

‘We must take him at his word’

CHINA will prepare for war, with its security ‘ increasing­ly unstable and uncertain’, President Xi Jinping has declared.

Beijing will now strengthen its military training, Xi said yesterday, according to state broadcaste­r China Central Television.

Last month he called for faster military developmen­t, ‘ self- reliance and strength’ in technology and defence of China’s interests abroad. It will further raise fears that China may invade the self-governing island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own. China, which has the second-largest economy and military in the world, has repeatedly threatened to annex the country.

Dr Alan Mendoza, of human rights group the Henry Jackson Society, said: ‘For years, Xi has been ratcheting up his rhetoric around the use of military force to reunify Taiwan with mainland China, and in response the West has done very little.

‘Liberal democracie­s must now take him at his word and work collective­ly, using all means necessary to deter Xi from invading Taiwan. As a priority, Western nations must begin the process of removing all Chinese influence from critical industries such as energy, water and nuclear power.’ He added that the West must prepare for more ‘economic upheaval’ if and when it sanctions China.

Last month, China’s Communist Party added a line to its constituti­on on ‘resolutely opposing and deterring’ Taiwan’s independen­ce. The conflict would almost certainly draw in the US, which provides Taiwan with weapons and is legally required to treat threats to the island as a ‘grave concern’ along with its treaty allies, the most important being Japan.

The US has already announced it will deploy nuclear-capable bombers to Australia to ‘warn’ China against what would be the ‘worst war in modern history’. It comes as China carried out its largest-ever military exercises around Taiwan after a recent visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. China was also furious about a visit to the island by British trade minister Greg Hands this week.

Last month, US chief of naval operations Admiral Michael Gilday warned that China could take Washington and the world by surprise and invade Taiwan as soon as this year.

He said: ‘What we’ve seen over the past 20 years is that they have delivered on every promise they’ve made earlier than they said they were going to deliver on it.’

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