People of China 'are not to be trifled with,' Chairman Xi warns

FPI / October 26, 2020

The day after President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden squared off in their final debate, Chinese supreme leader Xi Jinping delivered a thinly veiled threat against the United States.

Xi warned potential “invaders” of the communist nation's military resolve, speaking on the 70th anniversary of China's entry into the Korean War, the only time Chinese forces have fought U.S. troops in combat.

"Let the world know that the people of China are now organized and are not to be trifled with," Xi said, quoting Mao Zedong, the founding father of the People's Republic of China.

Xi said victory in the 1950-53 conflict was a reminder that his nation stood ready to fight anyone “creating trouble… on China’s doorstep.”

“This should be seen as a message directly addressed to the United States, there is no ambiguity here”, Alice Ekman, an analyst specializing on China at the European Union Institute for Security Studies said before the speech. “Xi is invoking the spirit of war in a broad sense.”

The warning from Xi shined a spotlight on U.S. policy on China. Analysts point out that, unlike his predecessors, Trump has stood up to Xi on trade, China's theft of American technology, China's abysmal record on human rights, and the status of Taiwan. On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced it had agreed to sell over $1 billion worth of missiles to self-governing Taiwan.

Meanwhile, given recent developments on his family's dealings with China, Biden would be instantly compromised when it comes to dealing with Xi upon entering office, many observers say.

“You are in danger of being held hostage,” Rep. Gary Palmer, Alabama Republican, warned in an interview on Talk 99.5. “The whole world would suffer if Biden gets elected president. Because the Chinese have the goods on him.”

“Now think about that,” Palmer continued, “how it would impact nations like Australia and Japan and South Korea and Vietnam, who’s becoming an ally of ours because they fear the hegemony of China. It’s going to spread across the world. This is a critical moment for this country. And you literally have left-wing media that are part of a conspiracy to defeat a president. They tried to remove him from office, now they’re trying to defeat him and put somebody in office that is highly, highly compromised.”

During his speech on Friday, Chairman Xi said: “Chinese people don’t create troubles, nor are we afraid of them. We will never sit back and watch any damage to our national sovereignty… and we will never allow any force to invade or divide the sacred territory of the motherland.”

Chinese state media have unleashed a wave of propaganda with daily interviews with Chinese prime-time interviews with veterans who survived the Korean War.

The action-thriller movie “Sacrifice”, which depicts a small band of Chinese troops holding off U.S. forces in the final days of the Korean War, hit cinemas across China on Friday.

Free Press International