Xi asks Chinese troops to be ready for war amid LAC standoff with India

A day after the seventh Corps Commander level meeting between India and China, which lasted for more than 11 hours, Chinese President Xi Jinping has told his soldiers, “We must put all our minds and energy on preparing for war.”

 Xi made these remarks while visiting a Marine Corps base in the Guangdong province, where he made an important speech, Xinhua reported. In his speech, Xinhua reported, “Xi Jinping pointed out that we must put all our minds and energy on preparing for war and maintain a state of high alert.”

 According to Xinhua, Xi emphasised that it is necessary to uphold the party’s absolute leadership over the military, strengthen the party’s innovative theoretical arms, and pay close attention to comprehensively and strictly govern the party and the military. “And ensure that the troops are absolutely loyal, absolutely pure, and absolutely reliable,” Xi told the troops. 

The Chinese President also called for carrying on the “red gene” and creating a spirit “that is not afraid of hardship and death”. 

“It is necessary to carry forward the fine traditions, carry on the red gene, build the unique military culture of the Marine Corps, cultivate a fighting spirit that is not afraid of hardship and death, and bring the troops to life,” Xi added.

 The Marine Corps performs diverse tasks and requires multiple capabilities, Xi said. Xi’s emphasis was on combat training. “It is necessary to persist in leading training by combat, strengthen task traction, strengthen targeted and confrontational training, and beat and exercise the troops hard and severely,” the Chinese President said. 

He added that it is necessary to promote innovations in combat theory, training models, and task organisation to improve training levels and actual combat capabilities.

 The Chinese President said that it is necessary to strengthen the integration of subordinate combat forces, combat units, and combat elements, strengthen coordination with other services, straighten out related command and support relationships, and deeply integrate into the joint combat system.

 Though Xi didn’t specifically mention the name of any country while exhorting his soldiers to be ready for war, security experts look at it as China’s signal to India, coming as it comes amid the ongoing standoff between the Indian and Chinese troops at the LAC in eastern Ladakh. 

With ANI inputs