During a visit to organs of the Eastern Theatre Command by Han Jun, party secretary of China’s central Anhui province, on Tuesday, Han met General Lin and said the province would “fully support the troop training and combat readiness” of the command, according to the local Anhui Daily newspaper.
Xi Jinping praises military branch keeping up the pressure on Taiwan
Xi Jinping praises military branch keeping up the pressure on Taiwan
It came a day after Zhou Zuyi, party secretary of China’s coastal Fujian province, met with Lin. In the meeting Zhou said he hoped the command could “make greater contributions to the great cause of reunification”, referring to Beijing’s goal of reunifying with Taiwan.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to arm Taiwan.
On January 9, Jiangxi party secretary Yin Hong made a similar visit to the Eastern Theatre Command and vowed that his province would “focus on what the troops need to prepare for and win combat”.
Yin made the trip from his province to Nanjing, Jiangsu, where the command is headquartered, according to the Jiangxi Daily.
The command’s jurisdiction includes the three provinces whose heads made visits – Anhui, Fujian and Jiangxi – as well as Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and Shanghai.
Chinese local governments are responsible for implementing policies that support veterans and afford benefits to soldiers’ families, as well as safeguarding the status, rights and interests of military personnel.
The meetings carried the theme of forging close bonds and unity between the military, local civilians and local governments, a relationship that could be traced back to the 1940s.
In the latest rounds of meetings, for example, Yin said his Jiangxi province government would steadily work on “national defence mobilisation” for “military struggles” and would implement policies that benefit the soldiers.
Chinese President Xi Jinping last visited the Eastern Theatre Command in July, when he said he affirmed the significant contributions the command had made and called on it to raise its capabilities to fight and win.
Since August 2022 – when then US House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, triggering the PLA’s unprecedented military exercises around the island – the Eastern Theatre Command has played a big role in continuing regular exercises near the island to “enhance deterrence”.
Beijing’s changes to cross-strait flight path will ‘squeeze’ Taiwan air defence
Beijing’s changes to cross-strait flight path will ‘squeeze’ Taiwan air defence
The recent visits by provincial party heads to forge “military-locality relations” was believed to be part of recent Beijing’s messaging from the central to local level towards the Taiwan elections.
They also came after Xi’s call to enhance “coordination between the military and locality” to promote high quality development of the PLA.