This came as a government budget tabled at the NPC’s opening session the same day proposed a 7.2 per cent hike in PLA funding to about 1.55 trillion yuan (US$224.3 billion), at a time when Beijing is tackling tensions on multiple fronts, including over Taiwan and the South China Sea, apart from intensifying US rivalry.
Over the past decade, the PLA “has been increasing its study, training, and preparation for future urban warfare”, in which it has “limited experience”, a report by the US-based Institute for the Study of War said last year.
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Taiwan holds urban, aerial combat drills amid threats of invasion by mainland China
Reunification with Taiwan “could involve intense fighting in Taiwanese cities” the report said, citing the seminal PLA textbook as mentioning an urban offensive in island operations.
However, “this campaign could present a particular challenge, given that over 90 per cent of Taiwan’s population lives in cities”, the report warned.
The PLA’s ongoing, perhaps larger, efforts to research and prepare for urban combat could also be seen as part of a global trend driven by Russia’s experience in its invasion of Ukraine, where the urban battles have been destructive and hard to win.
The PLA has revealed little information on its preparations for “urban warfare” in Taiwan, but highly realistic “mock cities” built in China’s training bases have included structures similar to the Presidential Office building in Taipei, a military drill broadcast by state media showed in 2015.
“As an important part of the future battlefield, cities provide a new field for the large-scale use of unmanned combat forces due to their complex social environment … and restrictive combat conditions,” read a recent article in the official PLA Daily.
Zhang Youxia, CMC vice-chairman and NPC deputy, also called on the military to “concentrate our efforts on preparations for war”.
“[We should] build new training systems … [and] carry out in-depth innovations in combat tactics to ensure that we can take on missions in case of emergencies,” Zhang told the same panel discussion attended by Ma on Sunday.
A structure resembling Taipei’s Presidential Office building at a PLA training base in northern China. Photo: Handout
Zhang’s comments reflected those of Premier Li Keqiang in his work report presented earlier in the day.
“The armed forces should intensify military training and preparedness across the board,” Li said, as he also called for boosting capacity building and coordination in fulfilling “major tasks”, though he did not elaborate what those tasks were.
Washington has drummed up speculation about an imminent war in the Taiwan Strait over the past year, especially after Russian troops invaded Ukraine.
Beijing has urged the world not to draw parallels with the war in Ukraine. It also took a softer tone in the latest work report delivered by Premier Li, who said Beijing would promote the peaceful development of cross-strait ties and advance the process of “peaceful reunification”.
Beijing sees Taiwan as a part of China and has never ruled out the use of force to take back control as part of the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” by 2049, the centenary year of the People’s Republic.
Most countries, including the US, do not recognise the self-governed island as an independent state.
