In the midst of NATO’s intensifying deployments to confront Russia, China and the nations which ally with them, Chinese President Xi Jinping personally inspected the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force in Hefei on Oct. 17, and then spoke to the officers and soldiers of the brigade of their responsibilities. Xinhua reported his visit two days later.
In his address, he “urged the country’s strategic missile troops to strengthen their deterrence and combat capabilities and … demanded efforts to intensify troop training and enhance combat preparedness across the board, and improve combat capabilities, so as to effectively safeguard national strategic security and core interests,” Xinhua reported. And he “also emphasized the need to strengthen targeted training with new equipment, new skills and new combat methods, improve support, and systematically enhance combat.”
Britain’s Reuters news agency spun the visit as showing China is chasing U.S. superior forces: “The PLA Rocket Force, which oversees the country’s conventional and nuclear missiles, has been tasked with modernizing China’s nuclear forces in the face of developments such as improved U.S. missile defenses, better surveillance capabilities and strengthened alliances.”
