President Xi Jinping ordered his nation’s military to boost its capability to meet all threats to the nation’s security, saying: “It’s necessary (for China’s armed forces) to strengthen (their capability), concentrat(ing) 
preparations for fighting a war,” adding: “We need to take all complex situations into consideration and make emergency plans accordingly.” “We have to step up combat readiness exercises, joint exercises and confrontational exercises to enhance servicemen’s capabilities and preparation for war.”
Beijing’s Defense Minister Wei Fenghe said “China will take decisive steps regardless of the cost to preserve its territorial integrity and repel attempts to separate Taiwan from the country.”
China considers Taiwan its sovereign territory. It calls incursions by US warships into the Taiwan Strait provocative – the 110 mile-wide waterway separating Taiwan from the mainland.
On July 4, America’s Independence Day, China’s Global Times (GT) said “the US is shifting toward a containment strategy toward China. Such a shift has become irreversible and will pose unprecedented challenges to China’s rise.”
Referring largely to Trump’s trade war at the time, GT added that differences over trade are “just the beginning of its containment on Beijing, and Sino-US ties will see intensified tensions in the future, an outcome which is extremely hard for China to prevent.”
Beijing must prepare for “major changes” in Sino–US relations. It must “confront exterior challenges to China’s rise.”It’s confronted by Washington because of its growing political, economic and military power. The US tolerates no challengers to its aim for global dominance.
Trade war may be prelude to something much more serious. China must “safeguard its core interests on Taiwan and the South China Sea, strike counterblows to provocations without hesitation” – short of letting “countermeasures (become) a global contest with the US,” said GT.
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In his remarks days earlier, Xi warned about “repeated challenges” to China’s sovereignty over Taiwan, calling them extremely dangerous, risking military confrontation. His remarks were directed against the Trump regime. Military analyst Zhou Chenming expects the US to continue conducting provocative incursions near Chinese waters – on the pretext of freedom of navigation exercises. He warned that “there will probably be more military friction between the two countries…”
Xi also spoke out against Taiwan’s independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party – in power since 2016. Bilateral relations deteriorated since then, including over US arms sales to the government. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi accused “non-regional countries” of provocations near the nation’s waters, saying they “have been showing off their force” referring to US actions.
In January, Defense News.com said “(t)he Pentagon is planning for war with China and Russia.” Washington has adversarial relations with both countries – along with Iran and other sovereign independent states.War between nuclear powers would be potentially devastating, humanity’s greatest threat.Neither Russia or China would initiate it. Would bipartisan hardliners in Washington risk Armageddon to achieve their aim for unchallenged global dominance?
(Note: The article was first published in Global Research.)
