China's Xi Jinping tells PLA troops to 'prepare for war'; says 'be loyal, pure & reliable'

China's President Xi Jinping on Tuesday instructed People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops to "put ir minds and energy on preparing for war", according to news ncy Xinhua. During an inspection of People's Liberation Army Marine Corps in Chaozhou City, CCP controlled Xinhua said Xi told soldiers to "maintain a state of high alert" and called on m to be "absolutely loyal, absolutely pure, and absolutely reliable", reported CNN.

"Maintain a state of high alert"

purpose of Xi's visit to Guangdong military base was to deliver a speech on Wednesday to commemorate 40th anniversary of Shenzhen Special Ecomic Zone, which played a vital role in helping China's ecomy become second-largest in world. 

Meanwhile, it is t yet clear wher this comment was directed towards India, Japan or US and or countries with which China is involved in a tussle in South China Sea region.  tensions between China and US, with issues pertaining to disagreements over Taiwan and COVID-19 pandemic, have increased over past few months. India and China are currently engd in a dialogue both at military and diplomatic levels to ease tensions at border.  

White House h earlier tified US Congress on Monday that it was planning to move ahe with sale of three vanced weapon systems to Taiwan, including vanced High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), CNN said. In response, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian h called on Washington to "immediately cancel any arms sales plans to Taiwan" and cut all "US-Taiwan military ties."

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Even though Taiwan has never been controlled by China's ruling party, Chinese authorities insist that self-governing island is an integral part of ir territory, with Jinping refusing to rule out use of military force to capture it if necessary. However, relations between US and Taiwan have grown closer under ministration of US President Donald Trump, despite China's disapproval.

China has also increased military drills around Taiwan, with almost 40 Chinese warplanes crossing median line between mainland and Taiwan on September 18-19 -- one of several sorties island's President Tsai Ing-wen called a "threat of force."

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(With ncy inputs)