The President of China wants the armed forces to be more prepared for war

President Xi Jinping of China has called on the country's armed forces to be more prepared for war, a few days after Beijing conducted large-scale military exercises around the island of Taiwan. According to a Saturday report by State Broadcasting Corporation CCTV, Xi made the call when he visited the Chinese People's Liberation Army Rocket Force.

In recent years, China, which insists that Taiwan is part of its territory, has increasingly flexed its military muscle around the self-governing island.

On Monday, Beijing sent warplanes, drones, submarines and coast guard ships around Taiwan, its fourth round of large-scale military exercises around the island in just two years.

Chinese leaders have already emphasized that they do not rule out the possibility of using force to bring Taiwan back under the country's control.

The conflict between China and Taiwan began in a civil war in which Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist forces were defeated by Mao Zedong's communist fighters and fled to the island in 1949.

Since then, China and Taiwan have been ruled by different leaderships.../