Opinion: China’s military prepares for war, while America’s military goes ‘woke’ – By Seth Cropsey (The Hill) / July 7 2021
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL
President Xi Jinping’s Chinese Communist Party (CCP) centenary speech conveyed his regime’s resolve in many ways.
Those who attempt to drive a wedge between the party and the Chinese nation, he stated, will encounter “a great wall of steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people.” He pledged to reinforce central control over the party, warning those who oppose its mission that they will be purged “like viruses.” He praised the party’s “courage to fight and fortitude to win,” making the CCP “invincible.” He committed to expanding and modernizing the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to defend Chinese “sovereignty, security, and development interests.” He implied that Taiwan is a part of Chinese sovereign territory — and any efforts toward “Taiwan independence,” therefore, will be met with force.
These sound like the pronouncements of a leader preparing his country for conflict.
The PLA air force and navy violated Taiwanese airspace 380 times in 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic raging within China’s borders. In April, the PLA deployed a 25-aircraft strike package to harass Taiwan from the south, including four nuclear-capable H-6K bombers. Its ships have circumnavigated Taiwan with carrier strike groups and supported ground forces and marines in amphibious exercises simulating an invasion of Taiwan.
