President Xi Jinping

China’s Military Suffering From “Peace Disease” With No War Experience

A Chinese military newspaper was subtly rattling a saber when it said that the PLA is suffering from “peace disease” after nearly four decades without war.

The People’s Liberation Army Daily wrote, “Peace disease has been a common symptom in our military for decades.”

The Chinese PLA hasn’t had any combat experience since a brief foray into Vietnam in the late 1970s and it added, “If we do not make up our mind to eliminate those evils, we must pay a heavy cost in the event of a war.”

Although China boasts the world’s largest standing military, with more than 2.1 million active-duty servicepeople, the country’s last offensive took place in the late 1970s in Vietnam. As a result, military leaders and the Chinese president are afraid troops have grown complacent and less capable. Xi aims to transform his nation’s military into a world-class fighting force within the next 30 years.
“We can only stop a war when we are able to fight,” the PLA newspaper wrote. “Let the army get back on the right track, concentrating on combat-ready training.”
Retired PLA Colonel Yue Gang pointed to corruption, as well as avoiding responsibilities, as the major problems plaguing the Chinese armed forces.
“Apart from corruption, job omission is the next key symptom of ‘peace disease’ in the Chinese military that should be cured,” Yue said, pointing out that the government is working to address both issues.
The army publication also warned that China currently faces greater security threats and unprecedented global concerns. Currently, China continues to flex its muscles in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, raising tensions with multiple Asian neighbors. Beijing has also moved to open foreign military outposts, such as a military hub in the African country Djibouti.

In an effort to confront the U.S. at every turn, China has now befriended an old enemy Russia, to improve ties with the Russians and work together against U.S. interests. After a visiting Russian high ranking military officer to China, Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe vowed that the two nations will “jointly deal with threats and challenges.”

The Chinese potential adversary, the U.S. military has no such “peace disease” having been in constant combat since 2001 in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and several other global hotspots. Despite this, the Chinese continue to push the envelope in the South China Sea, Djibouti, where Chinese military fired lasers at U.S. planes taking off from nearby airfields and potentially blinding pilots and other places

To read the entire article from Newsweek, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Chinese President Xi Jinping Tells Army, “Not to Fear Death”

President Xi Jinping spoke to a huge rally of Chinese troops on Wednesday morning as he addressed the entire army via a live feed in a show of strength and resolve for the Chinese armed forces. It also showed, thru Xi Jinping’s comments that for the first time the Chairman of the Communist Party will be heavily involved in the training of their army.

At 10 a.m., in Baoding, in the northern province of Hebei, China, Xi told 7,000 heavily armed officers and soldiers standing in formation that they should not fear “hardship or death” as they fight for their country’s Communist values.
The in-person address was simultaneously broadcast to 4,000 other military bases across the country—spanning China’s army, navy and air forces—who were ordered to watch Xi’s address via a live feed, according to the state-owned Xinhua News Agency.
During his speech, Xi encouraged the troops to “enhance their military training and combat readiness” to “grasp the capability to win battles” as dictated by the Chinese Communist Party (CPC).
“Commanders and personnel should firmly implement the decisions and instructions by the CPC Central Committee and the Central Military Commission [CMC] with a fighting spirit of fearing neither hardship nor death,” Xi said.
The military “should also train hard in a scientific way, be brave to overcome difficulties and surpass opponents, and create an elite and powerful force that is always ready for the fight, capable of combat and sure to win in order to fulfill the tasks bestowed by the party and the people in the new era,” he added.

Xi Jinping’s comments seem to add to the fear of rising tensions emanating from North Korea where the dictator Kim Jong Un is always threatening nuclear war. And his constant engaging of President Trump with childish tweets back and forth has set many, including those in China on edge.

To read the entire article from Newsweek, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Chinese General Accused in Corruption Probe, Commits Suicide

Chinese Gen. Zhang Yang, accused of corruption with ties to two other disgraced military authorities, committed suicide at his home, according to Chinese state-run media. Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s aggressive anti-corruption drive was investigating Yang of charges of “violating Party discipline.”

The South China Morning Post, quoting China’s state media reports that Zhang, 66, a former head of the powerful Central Military Commission’s (CMC) political work department, “hanged himself at his home in Beijing on the morning of November 23, and the news of his death had been relayed to all People’s Liberation Army theatre commands.”
Xinhua said Zhang had “serious disciplinary violations,” something the Post describes as “euphemism for corruption.” NPR’s Rob Schmitz, reporting from Shanghai, says the general “had disappeared from public sight more than two months ago amidst a crackdown on corruption within military ranks launched by Chinese leader Xi Jinping.”
Zhang had ties to Gen. Xu Caihou, the former head of the army’s political department, and Gen. Guo Boxiong, a former vice-chairman of the CMC. Both were accused of corruption — Xu died of cancer before he could be imprisoned and in July 2016, Guo was given a prison term of life.

Xi Jinping’s drive to erase the rampant corruption in Chinese society has made him a popular figure with the populace but not so much with the high-ranking members who have profited from the practice, but according to NPR, is still a major issue in the Chinese healthcare and education sectors.

To read the entire article from The National Public Radio, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Chinese Troops Meet Xi After Major Reshuffle in Government

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged his military’s leaders to improve modernization, fight the rampant corruption and have the Chinese military a world-class power by the middle of the century.

Meeting senior military leaders for the first time since the country’s new leadership was unveiled for all to see, Xi, who heads the military as well as the Communist Party, has made military modernization a key policy.

In his first publicly reported meeting with top officers since Wednesday’s unveiling of his new Standing Committee, a seven-man body that is the height of power in China, Xi pushed home his modernization message.
The military must ensure it is a world-class service by 2050, Xi said, in comments carried by state media, a goal he set last week at the opening of a key party congress.
The armed forces must “fully recognize the bright prospects for a strong military”, Xi told them. “Put into practice one hundred percent military construction.”
Though China has not fought a war in decades, it has been taking an increasingly assertive stance in the disputed East and South China Seas, as well as over self-ruled Taiwan, claimed by Beijing as its own, rattling nerves around the region.

While Xi continues to state that these measures are strictly for the defense of the country, the Chinese are pushing their influence far from their borders for the first time. Not only in the Pacific but outwards in the Indian Ocean as well. The Chinese opened a base outside its own borders for the first time in Djibouti and are pushing out commercial ports in Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Djibouti, and Tanzania.

To read the entire article from Reuters, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

China Pushes Four-Point Peace Plan for Israel – Palestine to UN

China’s UN ambassador Liu Jieyi has urged the international community to support President Xi Jinping’s new four-point proposal to establish a fully independent Palestinian state and to end the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Jieyi said that Xi’s proposal is based on four proposals and that China’s diplomatic efforts will focus on a negotiated solution at a news conference on Monday. China’s attempt to increase their influence in the Middle East with the proposal and the meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Beijing last month goes against some of their earlier overtures where they were trying to avoid being dragged into the quagmire of war there.

Xi outlined the plan and not surprisingly the Chinese are courting the Palestinians who are the foe of the US’ biggest ally in the region Israel. As the Chinese are seeking to counter the US at every turn.

The four points are:
— Advancing the two-state solution based on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital of a new Palestinian state;
— Upholding “the concept of common, comprehensive, co-operative and sustainable security,” immediately ending Israeli settlement building, taking immediate measures to prevent violence against civilians, and calling for an early resumption of peace talks;
— Coordinating international efforts to put forward “peace-promoting measures that entail joint participation at an early date”;
— Promoting peace through development and cooperation between the Palestinians and Israel.

Curiously absent from Xi’s proposal is the very sticking point that exists in every peace proposal between the two countries… Israel’s right to exist. Until the Palestinians and the rest of the neighbors who support them are willing to call for Israel’s right to exist as a nation, the hope for any lasting peace accord is slim.

While Abbas will say all of the right things for Xi, what will Tehran say to Israel’s right to exist? Don’t expect that to be forthcoming.

To read the entire article from The South China Post, click here:

Photo courtesy UN