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Hayley Wong

Chinese President Xi Jinping put the national spotlight back on the military’s missile defences, inspecting a PLA Rocket Force brigade in the country’s southeast roughly a month after a landmark ICBM test.
During the visit to a strategic missile brigade in Anhui province on Thursday, Xi underlined the need for stronger missile deterrence as well as tighter discipline, state news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday.
He told the brigade to “adapt to the changes in modern warfare and combat methods and keep a close eye on [changes in] combat missions, opponents, and environment”.
Xi, who is also head of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the body in charge of the armed forces, said that while troops should refine skills in conventional operations, they should also develop new skills, tactics and abilities with new equipment in a “targeted manner”.
“[Missile troops should] obey political guidance ... [and] enhance strategic deterrence and combat capabilities,” he said, on a trip that included equipment and training inspections.
The brigade was not identified but Xinhua did say it dated back more than 50 years.

The rocket force, which was established in 2015 as part of Xi’s overhaul of the People’s Liberation Army, oversees the country’s nuclear weapons, a central part of China’s strategic deterrence plans.
Those plans were high on the agenda at the party’s third plenum in July, when the leadership pledged to “speed up the development of strategic deterrence forces” as the country developed a “new framework of [military] services and arms”.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute forecasts that within a decade, China’s stockpile of intercontinental ballistic missiles could surpass those of Russia and the United States.
China has also been expanding its number of nuclear warheads in recent years, with some estimates putting its total at around 500 in 2023.
In an apparent signal of its combat readiness, the Rocket Force conducted its first known ICBM test in 44 years last month, launching a missile into the Pacific Ocean.
But the force has also been plagued by corruption scandals, with a slew of leaders and generals linked to the military wing removed and investigated.
The most recent case was that of prominent missile scientist Xiao Longxu. The former chief engineer of the rocket force’s top research institute was expelled last week from the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top advisory body.
Another case is that of Wei Fenghe, a former PLA Rocket Force commander and one of two former defence ministers under investigation for corruption.
In his trip on Thursday, Xi said the force should uproot “ideological issues” and “seriously investigate and deal with corruption and unhealthy tendencies of officers and soldiers”.
The force should “ensure that it resolutely obeys the command” of the CMC “at all times and under any circumstances”, Xi added.


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Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the brigade came less than a month after China conducted an ICBM test. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese President Xi Jinping visits an unnamed PLA Rocket Force brigade on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua

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China

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The president visits a brigade in Anhui province, urging them to adapt to new forms of warfare


The president visits a brigade in Anhui province, urging them to adapt to new forms of warfare.


China’s Xi Jinping targets deterrence and discipline in PLA Rocket Force inspection

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The president visits a brigade in Anhui province, urging them to adapt to new forms of warfare

The president visits a brigade in Anhui province, urging them to adapt to new forms of warfare