China`s plan for 2013 - Fight and win a war

Amid growing tensions with its neighbours, the People’s Liberation Army is heightening its combat preparedness to get ready for a possible war.

Zeenews Bureau

New Delhi: Amid growing tensions with its neighbours, the People’s Liberation Army of China is heightening its combat preparedness to get ready for a possible war in 2013, a report claimed. "In 2013, the goal set for the entire army and the People`s Armed Police force is to bolster their capabilities to fight and their ability to win a war … to be well-prepared for a war by subjecting the army to hard and rigorous training on an actual combat basis," Chinese newspaper South China Morning Post reported quoting People`s Liberation Army Daily. The training blueprint issued by the PLA`s Department of the General Staff gains extreme significance as it comes amid heighted tensions between China and Japan over territorial disputes in East China Sea. At the centre of the growing animosity between the countries are a chain of small uninhabited islets called the Senkakus by Japan but also claimed by China as the Diaoyus. As per the South China Morning Post, in this year`s statement, the phrase "fighting wars", or dazhang, has been mentioned as many as 10 times – it had found no mention in last year`s directive. While it would be imprudent to attribute the emphasis on “fighting wars” on the stand-off with Japan, the report also explains the change in PLA’s plan may be because the change of leadership in China. China’s state broadcast media had earlier reported that the PLA`s naval air force had kicked off the open-sea training portion of its annual exercise programme. Last year, the People`s Liberation Army Daily had accused Japan of playing with fire. Mass anti-Japan protests were also held in many cities in China which saw people smash Japnese cars and vandalize Sushi cars. Importantly, US and Japanese fighter jets began a five-day joint air exercises on Tuesday days after China and Japan scrambled their military planes near the disputed islands. Japan`s Self-Defence Forces had also conducted a massive military exercise on training grounds on the outskirts of Tokyo, on Sunday.