Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Chinese President Xi Jinping, cneter, visits the Gu Wenchang memorial hall in Dongshan County in the city of Zhangzhou during an inspection tour in southeastern China’s Fujian province. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Chinese President Xi Jinping has inspected a brigade of the military’s strategic missile force that underwent a massive purge of officials for corruption in recent years, according to a media report on Saturday (October 19, 2024).

Prez Xi on Thursday (October 17, 2024) visited at Hefei the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Rocket Force, a key arm of the military operating the missiles, including nuclear weapons, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

He urged the strategic missile troops to strengthen their deterrence and combat capabilities and resolutely fulfil the tasks entrusted by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the people.

The Rocket Force, established in 2015 as part of Prez Xi’s military overhaul, has been at the centre of the latest anti-corruption campaign targeting the military.

Besides heading the ruling CPC and the Presidency, 71-year-old Prez Xi also heads the Central Military Commission (CMC), the overall high command of the Chinese military.

His visit to the Rocket Force, which operates the country’s most powerful long and short-range missiles, was considered significant due to the massive purges seen at the key military arm driven by alleged graft at its top echelons in recent years.

The unspecified allegations against many of its officials included the use of substandard fuel for the missiles.

A host of its officers, including the former Defence Minister Gen Li Shangfu, were summarily sacked for alleged corruption.

Mr. Gen Li headed the Rocket Force before he was elevated to the post of Defence Minister by Xi, who later sacked him.

His successor, Gen Li Yuchao, who assumed the role of its commander in 2022, was also removed following graft charges.

In July this year, the ruling Communist Party announced the anti-corruption investigation against Gen Sun Jinming, who headed the Rocket Force.

At least seven past or serving senior military officials from the PLA’s Rocket Force faced anti-corruption probes since last year.

Former Defence Minister Gen Wei Fenghe, who headed the Rocket Force from its inception until 2017 and later served as the country’s defence minister from 2018 to 2023, was also expelled from the party recently over corruption charges.

Last month, the Rocket Force was in the news after it fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with a dummy warhead into the Pacific Ocean.

The launch tested weaponry performance and military training effectiveness and achieved desired goals, the Defence Ministry said.

The missile fell into expected sea areas, it said, adding that this was a routine arrangement in the annual training plan and relevant countries had been notified in advance.

It is the first time in 44 years that China is known to have successfully conducted an atmospheric test of an ICBM over the high seas. In May 1980, a DF-5 –- China’s first ICBM –- flew more than 9,000 km.

Tokyo:

Canada is in discussions about joining an expanded AUKUS deal between the US, Britain, and Australia formed to counter China’s growing military influence in the Indo-Pacific region, Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair said.

Canada has said it wants to join a second pillar of AUKUS that will collaborate on new military technologies, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing, but has not so far revealed any details of those talks.

The military alliance AUKUS stands for Australia, United Kingdom, United States.

“There have been important discussions about processes and platforms on a project-specific basis on where other nations, including Japan and ourselves, might participate,” Blair said in an interview in Tokyo where he met his Japanese counterpart Minoru Kihara.

“I would respectfully wait until they’ve come to their determination, but I’m very optimistic,” he said.

Blair said he and Kihara discussed AUKUS, which is already considering working with Japan. The initial phase of AUKUS involves the three founding members working on nuclear submarine technology for Australia.

Blair, who was on his first trip to Japan as defence minister, arrived in Tokyo from South Korea, which is also in talks about a role in AUKUS.

Canada is looking for a bigger security role in Asia and has made forging deeper ties with Japan and South Korea a priority. As its defence commitments expand at home and overseas the country is expanding military spending.

“Next year, my defence budget will rise by 27% over this year, and, frankly, in the next three or four years, our defence spending will triple,” Blair said.

He and Kihara also discussed Chinese incursions into Japanese territory that last month prompted Tokyo to lodge protests with Beijing.

Concerns about that Chinese military activity may be discussed at a meeting of the Group of Seven defence ministers in Italy next month, Blair said.

“It’s an important opportunity for us to have a conversation among the G7 partners about some of the activities that are deeply concerning to Japan and to Canada and to the United States and others,” he said.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Zhang Youxia, Vice-Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, speaks at the Western Pacific Navy Symposium held in Qingdao in eastern China’s Shandong Province on April 22, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

One of China’s top military leaders took a harsh line on regional territorial disputes, telling an international naval gathering in northeastern China on April 22 that the country would strike back with force if its interests came under threat.

The 19th biennial meeting of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium opened in Qingdao, where China’s northern naval force is based, providing a vivid backdrop to China’s massive military expansion over the past two decades that has seen it build or refurbish three aircraft carriers.

The two-day talks have drawn representatives from partners and competitors including Australia, Cambodia, Chile, France, India and the U.S. and comes amid heightened tensions over China’s assertive actions in the Taiwan Strait and the East and South China seas, and as China’s Navy has grown into the world’s largest by number of hulls.

Zhang Youxia, the Vice-Chairman of the ruling Communist Party’s Central Military Commission, which controls the armed forces, spoke of “common development” and said “decoupling, friction and confrontation will only divide the world into isolated islands guarding against each other with suspicion.”

Then he turned to China’s territorial claims, which have not been recognised under international law and in some cases have been denied. Beijing has ignored rulings not in its favour, particularly in the South China Sea, where it is in dispute with five other parties over islands, waterways and undersea resources.

Japan continues to defend its control over the uninhabited Senkaku island chain, called Diaoyu by China, in the East China Sea, against incursions by the Chinese coast guard.

Taiwan last week reinforced its foothold in the disputed South China Sea by establishing satellite communications between the main island and its garrison on Taiping Island, also known as Itu Aba, the largest land feature in the highly contested Spratly Island chain. China has created seven artificial islands in the area by piling sand and cement on coral reefs and equipping them with airstrips and other military infrastructure.

Mr. Zhang said China’s territorial sovereignty “brooks no infringement and its core interests cannot be challenged. We do not provoke trouble, but we will never flinch in face of provocation. The Chinese military will resolutely defend the reunification and interest of the motherland.”

Mr. Zhang has spoken in the past of Beijing’s determination to take control of the self-governing island republic of Taiwan, which it claims as its own territory, using force if necessary. With its crucial high-tech economy, Taiwan has been building up its defences on its own and with help from the U.S., where Congress this weekend approved $8 billion in military aid for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific.

Taiwan is also building its own submarines and trainer aircraft and waiting on the delivery of upgraded versions of F-16 fighters, battle tanks and other hardware from the U.S.

Mr. Zhang appeared to press China’s unilateralist approach to foreign relations and military conflicts as espoused by Xi Jinping, the top military commander, Communist Party leader and head-of-state for life, who has eliminated all dissenting views.

China “remains committed to resolving maritime disputes with directly concerned countries through friendly consultations, but we will not allow our good faith to be abused,” Mr. Zhang said. “Particularly over the self-governing island republic of Taiwan that Beijing threatens to use force to bring under its control. We will take justified actions to defend our rights in accordance with the law.”

Mr. Zhang’s comments follow a major shakeup of the Chinese military in recent months that has seen the still-unexplained disappearance of former Defence Minister Li Shangfu and several top officers in the missile corps.

Also due to speak at the gathering was the recently appointed head of the Russian Navy, Adm. Alexander Moiseyev, the Russian Defence Ministry said on April 22, according to the official Interfax news agency.

It said Adm. Moiseyev met with Adm. Hu Zhongming, commander of China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy, in Qingdao on April 21, and they agreed to further cooperation on search and rescue.

“The sides emphasised the importance of further developing cooperation between the two countries’ fleets for supporting security and stability on the world’s oceans,” Interfax said.

China has refused to criticise Russia’s full-on invasion of Ukraine and has held multiple rounds of drills with the Russian Navy and other armed forces branches, part of an alignment of their military and political postures to form a joint front against the prevailing U.S.-led Western liberal order.

Ukraine has developed deadly sea drones that have struck Russian Navy ships in the Black Sea. Those successful strikes have embarrassed the Kremlin.

Chinese People’s Liberation Army soldiers patrol at Tiananmen in Beijing. File.
| Photo Credit: AFP

China’s military helmed by President Xi Jinping on April 19 unveiled a powerful information warfare support force in a major overhaul of a largely opaque structure of strategic units with the aim of supporting “military struggles” in all areas.

The Information Support Force held its founding meeting in the Chinese capital Beijing on Friday, with army veteran Bi Yi as its chief and Li Wei as its political commissar.

As Mr. Xi handed the force’s flag to the unit’s leaders, he said the formation of the force was a major strategic decision by China’s Communist Party and Central Military Commission (CMC) to integrate information resources and strengthen information protection, serving to “support military struggles in all directions and fields”.

The force will report directly to the CMC, the country’s most powerful defence organisation which also oversees the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), or military.

The leadership of the PLA’s existing space and cyberspace strategic forces will be adjusted accordingly, state media reported, without providing detail on how they could be integrated into the new force.