MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/. Chinese President Xi Jinping's call for stepping up the training of the People's Liberation Army for real combat operations does not indicate a new stage of an escalation in the region, but merely demonstrates Beijing's political readiness to defend its sovereignty, Andrey Bystritsky, the board chairman of the Foundation for Support and Development of the Valdai discussion club, told TASS on Wednesday.
While inspecting the PLA's Southern Theater Command area in Guangdong province Xi pointed out that the soldiers need to enhance training for real combat operations and to stick to combat-oriented training.
"Xi’s instructions to the PRC military do not indicate a new stage of an escalation," Bystritsky said. "China is just responding to the challenges that surround it. In this case, it is nothing but a political statement, a sign of China's readiness to defend its sovereignty, and the ability of the Chinese authorities to look at what is happening in the world soberly. It is a certain signal that China is determined and far-sighted. I would not see this as something extraordinarily."
Bystritsky recalled that China "always responds to any actions, primarily those of the United States," which considers the PRC as "the main competitor in this world and is going to contain it, according to its doctrine, in every way."
"China responds to this in the effective ways it finds fit. In particular, since a certain set of cases concerns the military sphere, China demonstrates the readiness of its armed forces and its authorities to act resolutely enough. It hopes that it will be able to prevent any aggressor from taking rash action," the analyst explained.