Xi says China not afraid of war in speech to mark Korean War

Soldiers stand in formation in front of the Great Hall of the People ahead of an event to mark the 70th anniversary of China entering the Korean War at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Soldiers stand in formation in front of the Great Hall of the People ahead of an event to mark the 70th anniversary of China entering the Korean War at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
block
Al Jazeera News :
President Xi Jinping warned on Friday that China was not afraid of war and would never allow its sovereignty, security and development interests to be undermined, in a muscular speech to mark 70 years since Chinese troops entered the Korean War.
Any act of unilateralism, monopolism and bullying would not work and would only lead to a dead end, Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, which took place amid rising tensions with the United States.
“Let the world know that ‘the people of China are now organised and are not to be trifled with’,” Xi said, quoting Mao Zedong, the founding father of the People’s Republic of China.
Xi did not directly refer to the US, whose ties with China have sunk to their lowest in decades amid escalating disputes with the administration of President Donald Trump.
The world’s two biggest economies have clashed over issues ranging from trade, technological and security rivalry to human rights and the coronavirus. Trump’s tough stance on China has been central to his campaign to winning a second term in the presidential election on November 3.
“Seventy years ago, the Imperialist invaders fired on the doorstep of a new China,” Xi was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post newspaper.
“The Chinese people understood that you must use the language that invaders can understand – to fight war with war and stop an invasion with force, earning peace and security through victory. The Chinese people will not create trouble but nor are we afraid, and no matter the difficulties or challenges that we face, our legs will not shake and our backs will not bend.”
Xi also stressed the need for the modernisation of the country’s defence and armed forces to create a world-class military.
“Without a strong army, there can be no strong motherland,” XI said.
Chinese troops crossed the Yalu River, which marks China’s border with North Korea, in October 1950 to help Pyongyang in its fight against the US-led United Nations and South Korean forces, which had started a few months before.
block