BEIJING : President Xi Jinping on Friday warned of China\u2019s military resolve to defeat “invaders”, speaking on a 70th anniversary for the Korean War, the only time Chinese forces have fought the United States.
\nIn a long speech, heavy on patriotism and flecked by anecdotes of heroism by Chinese forces, Xi said victory in the 1950-53 conflict was a reminder that his nation stood ready to fight anyone “creating trouble… on China\u2019s doorstep”.
\nBeijing frequently uses war anniversaries to fire thinly covered warnings to the US of the military strength of the “new China”.
\nThe Korean War is a key foundation story for the ruling Communist Party.
\nFriday\u2019s anniversary comes as the party is called out by US President Donald Trump, in a bitter row spanning trade, tech, human rights and the status of Taiwan, which China says is an inviolable part of the mainland.
\nWithout explicitly naming the US, Xi loaded up with the historical precedent of the Korean war and took swings at modern day “unilateralism, protectionism and extreme egoism”.
\n“Chinese people don\u2019t create troubles, nor are we afraid of them,” Xi said to applause.
\n“We will never sit back and watch any damage to our national sovereignty… and we will never allow any force to invade or divide the sacred territory of the motherland.”
\nOn Wednesday, the Pentagon announced it had agreed to sell over one billion dollars\u2019 worth of missiles to self-governing Taiwan, the sharpest potential flashpoint with US forces.
\nThe Korean War was the first and so far only time Chinese and US forces have engaged in large-scale direct combat.
\nAccording to the Chinese government, more than 197,000 Chinese soldiers died during the three-year war, which saw the US-led United Nations coalition pushed back to the 38th parallel bisecting the Korean Peninsula, after China weighed in on the side of North Korea\u2019s communist army.
\nThe war, essentially fought to a bloody stalemate, is hailed in China as a victory and an example of resilience and spirit against a more advanced foe.
\n“When China was very poor, it didn\u2019t surrender to US pressure,” an editorial in the nationalist Global Times said this week.
\n“Today, China has grown to be a strong country, so there is no reason for China to fear the US threats and suppression.”
\nWith tensions at their highest in decades between Beijing and Washington, China is making much of the 70th anniversary of its forces entering the fight, intended as much for domestic consumption as it is a warning to its superpower rivals.
\nChinese state media have unleashed a wave of propaganda with daily interviews with Chinese veterans who survived the war during prime-time news over the past week.
\nAn action-thriller “Sacrifice”, directed by three of the biggest names in Chinese cinema and depicting a small band of Chinese troops holding off US forces in the final days of the war hit cinemas across the country on Friday.
\n“This should be seen as a message directly addressed to the United States, there is no ambiguity here”, Alice Ekman, an analyst specialising on China at the European Union Institute for Security Studies said before the speech.
\n“Xi is invoking the spirit of war in a broad sense.”
\nChina and North Korea have worked to improve relations in the past two years after they deteriorated as Beijing backed a series of UN sanctions against Pyongyang over its nuclear activities.
\nXi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have met five times since March 2018, even as nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have hit a standstill.
\nBy commemorating the anniversary “China is declaring to the US that it was not afraid of the US in the past, and is still not afraid of the US now”, said Shi Yinhong, professor of international politics at Renmin University.
\n“It\u2019s to prepare for a possible limited military conflict with the US”, Shi said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING : President Xi Jinping on Friday warned of China\u2019s military resolve to defeat “invaders”, speaking on a 70th anniversary for the Korean War, the only time Chinese forces have fought the United States. In a long speech, heavy on patriotism and flecked by anecdotes of heroism by Chinese forces, Xi said victory in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151971,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n