China's Show Of Strength Amid US House Speaker's Taiwan Visit Buzz
NDTV
Chinese army highlighted some of its latest achievements in weaponry and realistic combat preparations to warn "Taiwan independence" secessionist and external interfering forces.
China's People's Liberation Army (PLA), the world's largest military, on Monday celebrated the 95th anniversary, flexing its muscles to deter US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's purported plan to visit Taiwan that has fuelled tension with Beijing.
Pelosi confirmed on Sunday she will lead a congressional delegation to Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan but was conspicuously silent about a possible stopover at Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as part of its mainland.
The proposed visit drew a fiery warning from President Xi Jinping in his last Thursday's phone conversation with his US counterpart Joe Biden, asserting that "those who play with fire will perish by it." Beijing sees official American contact with Taiwan as encouragement to make its decades-old de facto independence permanent.
Coinciding with its 95th Army Day celebrations on Monday, the two-million-strong PLA highlighted some of its latest achievements in weaponry and equipment development and realistic combat preparations to warn "Taiwan independence" secessionist and external interfering forces.
