Xi Jinping, the leader of China and head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has told the country’s military and armed police to be ‘combat ready’.
According to the People’s Daily, a government mouthpiece, Xi told a meeting of leaders of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the People’s Armed Forces (PAP) that they should ‘strengthen its performance so as to do a good job of ensuring a good start to the 14th Five-Year Plan, and of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the party’.
This comes as China continues to flex its muscles in the region. Military analysts believe that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, which it considers a rogue province, could happen in the near future. An invasion of Taiwan could result in a major conflict, as the United States is a key ally of Taiwan and is likely to protect Taiwan in case of an attack. Despite concerns that the new US President, Joe Biden, would take a more conciliatory approach to China, this does not seem to be the case, and his administration has continued to criticise the People’s Republic.
Biden invited the de facto Taiwanese ambassador to Washington to his inauguration in January, the first time this has happened since the United States ended formal diplomatic ties with the island nation in 1979.