Xi Jinping was recently installed for a third term as China’s leader and the head of the Chinese Communist Party. Since then, he’s been offering a number of speeches and state media interviews. During one such discussion this week, he proclaimed on CCTV that his country is going to be “focusing on preparing for war.” This will take the form of increased military training drills along with hastened developments in technology and defense assets. The only reason he cited for this position was an “increasingly unstable and uncertain” national security position. But most analysts are already assuming that China may be ramping up for an invasion of Taiwan. (Daily Mail)

China will focus on preparing for war with the country’s security ‘increasingly unstable and uncertain’, President Xi Jinping has declared.

Beijing will now comprehensively strengthen its military training and preparation for any war, Xi said today, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

His warning comes after Xi last month called for faster military development, ‘self-reliance and strength’ in technology and defence of China’s interests abroad, raising the likelihood of further conflict.

Xi’s announcement that China will focus on preparing for a war will raise fears that the nation may invade the self-governing island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own.

This is obviously a disturbing development on a number of levels. China has already been beefing up it’s military for more than a decade, particularly with the addition of aircraft carriers to its naval fleet and new planes specifically designed for use on carriers. They’ve been testing hypersonic missile technology and increasing their recruiting efforts for military service. But Xi Jinping has traditionally avoided specific references to initiating any sort of military conflict.

As one Asian policy expert quoted in the linked report points out, this isn’t the sort of thing that the west can afford to simply ignore or blow off as bombastic rhetoric. We probably need to take the Chinese leader at his word. Whether these remarks were intended to be a thinly veiled reference to an invasion across the Taiwan Strait or a conflict with other western allies, having China on a war footing is something we will regret taking lightly if we simply ignore this.

But what’s to be done? The same analyst I mentioned above suggests that it’s vital for western nations to begin the process of “decoupling China from many of our most relied upon supply chain networks.” He also suggests removing China’s vested interests and influence in critical industries, particularly those in the energy and transportation sectors. Hopefully, this sounds obvious to most western leaders and it’s something we should have started doing long before this. We learned during the pandemic shutdowns how much damage China can do by disrupting the global supply chain, even if it’s done inadvertently. If they find themselves at war with the United States or anyone else, they could just as readily shut down those supply chains intentionally.

While we’ve brought this up here before, it’s worth noting that the Chinese seem to clearly have been watching as recent events unfolded in Ukraine. Xi Jinping may have already concluded that he is free to “reunify” Taiwan with the mainland militarily because the United States will not step in with our own military to stop them. And if America doesn’t lead the way, our smaller allies will not launch an attack on China on their own.

In any event, we need some clarification from the White House as to what our actual policy regarding China and Taiwan is today. Joe Biden has repeatedly muddied the waters in that regard with contradictory statements that his staff had to quickly rush out and “clarify.” China has clearly been listening and there is a very real chance that they may act on those impulses.

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