China defends ‘fighting spirit’ of Xi’s foreign policy
The HinduChina will continue a “fighting” approach to diplomacy with a “rock-hard resolve to safeguard sovereignty”, officials said on Thursday during the week-long Communist Party Congress in Beijing. Party General Secretary and President Xi Jinping, at the opening of the congress on Sunday, had warned of “drastic changes in the international landscape” amid “external attempts to blackmail, contain, blockade and exert maximum pressure on China” and said China had “shown a fighting spirit”. “Chinese diplomacy will continue to display fighting spirit, improve our ability to fight, always stand ready at the frontline to protect our national interest and dignity,” Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu told reporters in a press conference on China’s diplomatic agenda in the next five years, speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing congress. Also during the congress, Chen Liu, a delegate from the PLA, said China’s stealth fighter the J20 was now “active” in all five theatre commands of the People’s Liberation Army, including the Western Command bordering India.