Chinese president Xi Jinping on Sunday called for his country to increase its military capability as it tightens its grip on Hong Kong and takes an increasingly threatening posture towards Taiwan.
“We will work faster to modernize military theory, organizational forms, personnel and weaponry and equipment,” Xi said before the Chinese Community Party’s national congress. “We will enhance the military’s strategic capabilities for defending China’s sovereignty, security and development interests and see that the People’s Armed Forces effectively fulfill their missions and tasks.”
The assembly’s 2,300 CPP delegates are expected to grant him a third term as China’s president and general secretary of at the congress. The Chinese authoritarian is not subject to term limits since China revised the constitution in 2018.
Xi signaled that China would take a more confrontational attitude toward Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory but which has operated as a self-governing state for decades.
“In the face of serious provocations from separatist activities by Taiwan independence forces and interference in Taiwan affairs by external forces, we have resolutely waged a major struggle against separatism and interference, demonstrating our strong determination and ability to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity and oppose Taiwan independence,” he said, according to a translation from Reuters.
In a flex of national and military might, Xi also announced that China has achieved “comprehensive control” over Hong Kong, once permitted to be a haven of democracy with its own legal system, legislature, currency, and capitalist economic system separate from the mainland. However, over time Beijing has encroached on the island and undermined its autonomy, resulting in the imposition of Hong Kong’s authoritarian National Security Law, which can deem pro-democracy activity a “threat” to the regime. In May, five democracy advocates were arrested in Hong Kong under pretenses of violating the draconian law, which prohibits “sedition,” “secession,” and foreign interference.
“Confronted with drastic changes in the international landscape, we have maintained firm strategic resolve and shown a fighting spirit throughout these endeavors,” Xi added. “We have safeguarded China’s dignity and core interest and kept ourselves well positioned for pursuing development and ensuring security.”
In August, China held extensive military drills around the periphery of Taiwan, which it justified by claiming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s diplomatic trip to the island was a display of western provocation. Pelosi and two Congressional delegations visited Taiwan to reaffirm U.S. solidarity with the island as it faces intensifying Chinese aggression.