Xi calls for ‘more quickly elevating’ China’s military amid tensions with the U.S.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for more quickly elevating his country’s military to world-class standards. China must “systematically upgrade the country’s overall strength to cope with strategic risks, safeguard strategic interests and realize strategic objectives,” Xi said Wednesday. Xi issued a series of calls to accelerate the buildup of self-reliance in science and technology, bolster strategic capabilities in emergency fields, make industrial and supply chains more resilient and make national reserves “more capable of safeguarding national security.” The program laid out by Xi dovetails with a number of national strategies already underway, including the “Made in China 2025” campaign to make China dominant in 10 key fields, including integrated circuits and aerospace, and a decades-old campaign for civilian-military integration in the economy. China has defined the centenary goals in mostly vague terms, such as greater “informatization” and raising the PLA to “world-class standards.” China needs to build “a strong system of strategic deterrent forces, raise the presence of combat forces in new domains and of new qualities, and deeply promote combat-oriented military training,” according to a speech Xi gave last year. “We want to have that constructive competition that is fair” and that “doesn’t veer into that conflict.” Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Gen. Laura J. Richardson, Commander of the U.S. Southern Command, which is responsible for South America and the Caribbean, testified before the House Armed Services Committee that China and Russia were “malign actors” that are “aggressively exerting influence over our democratic neighbors.” China is “spreading its malign influence, wielding its economic might, and conducting gray zone activities to expand its military and political access and influence,” Richardson said.