China orders army ‘fight to the death’ and step up training to ‘win wars’

CHINA'S president has ordered his troops to train harder and fight to the death as he called on the military to be ready for war.

President Xi Jinping said his country’s two million strong armed forces should train under real combat conditions and "not fear hardship",  according to Beijing's state-run media.

Xi made the comments while addressing the Central Military Commission at the Jingxi Hotel in Beijing.

The Communist Party leader called on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to "not fear hardship" and "not fear death".

Xi said the military needed to "enhance the sense of hardship, strengthen the mission responsibility, and accelerate the transformation and upgrading of military training".

China has poured billions of pounds into modernising its military as it continues to threaten to invade Taiwan — which it regards as part of its territory.

In October, the PLA staged a terrifying war game that simulated invading the island.

The country has also stealthily taken over swathes of the South China Sea by building military bases on artificial islands.

The hotly contested region is also rich in fossil fuels, which China desperately needs to pump prime its booming economy with cheap energy.

New satellite images also show China is developing secret bases on a disputed border with India — in the latest sign of escalating tensions between the two nuclear powers.

Earlier this year, China warned it would "crush any aggression" as it boasted it was prepared for any future conflict with Indian forces.

China is facing a number of challenges both at ho... (Read more)

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