China's President Xi tells his soldiers to 'focus on preparing for WAR' as he visits a Marine base.

The Show Time/source Daily Mail

Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged his marine soldiers to focus on getting ready for war during a visit to a military base in southern China. He told his Navy troops yesterday to 'focus all [your] minds and energy on preparing for war and maintain a high level of alert', reported state broadcaster CCTV, citing the leader. Xi's call for combat readiness comes as political tensions have flared between China and self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing considers as its own. President Xi delivered the speech on Tuesday while inspecting the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy Marine Corps in Chaozhou of Guangdong province. The Communist leader has been touring the southern Chinese region since Monday. He is taking part in celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of the Shenzhen special economic zone today. While visiting the marine base, Xi urged the soldiers to 'speed up improving [their combat capabilities)' in order to become a 'multi-functional, rapid response, all-weather and region' elite force. He also told the troops to focus on war preparedness while remaining highly vigilant, according to CCTV. President Xi today gave another speech marking the establishment of the country's first economic zone in the southern city Shenzhen four decades earlier. Carrie Lam, pro-Beijing leader of Hong Kong, attended the ceremony, after announcing on Monday that she was postponing an annual policy address scheduled for that day, as did Ho iat Seng, the chief executive of Macau. Xi's speech also called for further exchanges between the two territories and Taiwan, as well as overseas Chinese, and to 'strengthen their sense of belonging with the motherland! The news comes after Taiwan-China tensions spiked over the weekend when China threatened to take over Taiwan by conducting live-fire military drill of 'soldiers seizing an island'.