Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday (March 7, 2026) called on the PLA to enhance political loyalty after the recent purge of the top brass of the military, while a top General called on the defence personnel to resolutely obey the Chinese leader’s command.

Meeting a largely condensed delegation of military officials of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the People’s Armed Police Force at the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s Parliament, Mr. Xi stressed fully leveraging the unique strengths of enhancing political loyalty in the military, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

He also called for concerted efforts to modernise national defence and the armed forces in a steady, sustained manner.

This is Mr. Xi’s first meeting after the removal of two senior Chinese military officials, including the highest-ranking PLA official, Gen Zhang Youxia, in January, regarded as a major purge of the PLA in recent history, sending shock waves among the rank and file.

Zhang Youxia was the Vice-Chairman of the all-powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), headed by Mr. Xi himself.

After his removal, the six-member CMC, which is the overall high command of the Chinese military, has been reduced to two: Mr. Xi and Gen Zhang Shengmin, secretary of the discipline inspection body.

Significantly, Zhang Shengmin, the last standing General of the six-member CMC, in his speech at the current parliament session, called on the military to resolutely obey the command of Xi.

We must deepen political rectification, improve Communist Party conduct, fight corruption, and strengthen loyalty to the party’s core and resolute obedience to the command of President Xi Jinping.

Mr. Zhang also called for more efforts to improve combat-orientated training and preparedness to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests.

It is also necessary to push for high-quality development, step up building integrated combat capabilities, strengthen the development and application of combat capabilities in new domains and of new qualities, and enhance military governance, Mr. Zhang was quoted as saying by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post on Saturday (March 7, 2026).

Significantly, no military officials from the Politburo of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) attended the current two sessions of the NPC and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which began on March 4.

According to the official website of the NPC, the military delegation attending the two sessions has been condensed from 281 to 243 members, reflecting the series of expulsions of the PLA officials in the last few years for corruption and indiscipline.

Besides corruption, the main allegation against the sacked military officials was indiscipline and disobedience of the CPC leadership.

Since he came to power in 2012, Mr. Xi has been insisting that the military should function under the leadership of the CPC.

Critics say that through the anti-corruption movement, he consolidated his power, emerging as the core leader of the party, next only to the party founder, Mao Zedong.

Purges notwithstanding, China on Thursday (March 5, 2026) hiked its defence budget to about 1.91 trillion yuan ($277 billion), an increase of seven per cent from last year in yuan terms, as part of its efforts to ramp up rapid modernisation of armed forces to catch up with the U.S. military.

China, which in the past grew at double digits, has been setting a five per cent target for the GDP in the last three years amid growing domestic and external economic challenges.

This year, the target was lowered to 4.5 to 5% for the first time, which was seen as an acknowledgement that the world’s second-largest economy faced headwinds, relying more on external trade due to stagnating domestic consumption.

Published – March 07, 2026 10:21 pm IST

China’s President Xi Jinping said that “China is ready to engage the United Kingdom in dialogue on an equal footing, on the basis of mutual respect… (to) enhance understanding and mutual trust”.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

“China’s President Xi Jinping discussed stepping up cooperation with Britain in finance, the green economy and artificial intelligence in a phone call with Britain Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday (August 23, 2024),” Chinese state media said.

The Chinese leader also congratulated Mr. Starmer on his Labour Party’s July election win in the call that China said had been requested by Britain, the Xinhua news agency reported.

There was no immediate confirmation or broader comment from London.

Mr. Starmer’s government said in June it will carry out an audit of Britain’s relationship with China to understand and respond to the challenges and opportunities Beijing poses.

The two countries’ ties came under considerable strain over the course of Britain’s previous Conservative Government, over Hong Kong, British accusations of rights abuses, and concerns about Chinese firms’ involvement in providing critical infrastructure.

In 2022, then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared the end of a so-called “golden era” of relations that one of his predecessors, David Cameron, had championed.

Mr. Xi told Starmer he hoped “the British side will look at China objectively and rationally”, Xinhua said.

Mr. Xi added that “China is ready to engage the United Kingdom in dialogue on an equal footing, on the basis of mutual respect… (to) enhance understanding and mutual trust,” Xinhua reported.

The Chinese leader added that he saw scope to “expand cooperation in finance, the green economy and artificial intelligence,” the report added.

This handout photo released by Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s Office on March 27, 2024 shows Sri Lanka’s PM Dinesh Gunawardena (left) with Chinese President Xi Jinping, before a meeting in Beijing.
| Photo Credit: AFP

China has said it would continue to support Sri Lanka, as the crisis-hit island nation’s Prime Minister on March 30 wrapped up a visit to Beijing to try to finalise a debt restructuring deal.

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena arrived in China on Monday for a visit that included meeting President Xi Jinping and an appearance at the Boao Forum, a high-profile international meeting.

Sri Lanka’s years-long economic crisis was high on the agenda during Mr. Gunawardena’s trip, with China accounting for around 10% of the South Asian country’s total foreign debt.

China is willing to “continue supporting its financial institutions to actively negotiate with Sri Lanka, maintain friendly communication with other creditors, play a positive role in the International Monetary Fund, assist Sri Lanka in financial relief,” Beijing’s Foreign Ministry said in the Chinese version of a joint bilateral statement released on March 29.

The two sides agreed to “make every effort to promote the Port City Colombo and Hambantota Development Project, turning them into flagship projects of the Sino-Sri Lankan joint construction of the ‘Belt and Road'”, the statement said, referring to Xi’s massive Belt and Road global infrastructure initiative.

The southern sea port of Hambantota was considered among the white-elephant projects launched by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who ruled the country for a decade until 2015.

Rajapaksa borrowed heavily from China for projects that many criticised as a debt trap that led to the worst economic crisis in Sri Lanka’s history. Unable to repay a huge loan taken from China in 2017 to build Hambantota port, Sri Lanka handed it over to the state-owned China Merchants Group for $1.12 billion on a 99-year lease.

Sri Lanka defaulted on its $46 billion external debt in April 2022 after it ran out of foreign exchange to finance even essential imports such as food, fuel and medicine. It secured a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout last year, with the programme conditional on a debt deal that satisfies foreign creditors.

China had agreed “in principle” to restructure Sri Lanka’s debt in December, but neither Colombo nor Beijing had given details and the two are yet to finalise an agreement. Sri Lanka’s government said in January that a foreign debt restructure would be finalised by the beginning of April.