Xi Jinping warns of war in lead-up to G20 summit in Bali

The Chinese President gave a grim assessment in which he spoke of the increasingly unstable and uncertain security situation.

Xi Jinping at the joint operations command centre of China’s Central Military Commission in Beijing on Tuesday. Picture: Xinhua

Xi Jinping has instructed China’s military to prepare for war days before he meets US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Bali.

Dressed in combat fatigues, the Chinese President gave a grim assessment to the joint operations command centre of the Central Military Commission in Beijing.

“The task of military struggle is arduous and heavy,” said Mr Xi, who is also the commander-in-chief of China’s armed forces.

“The entire military must … focus on combat ability as the fundamental and only criterion, concentrate all energy on fighting a war, direct all work towards warfare and speed up to build the ability to win,” he said, according to party state media.

Chinese state media gave saturation coverage of Mr Xi’s Tuesday inspection tour, in which he spoke of the increasingly unstable and uncertain security situation.

The address came as China’s diplomats continue to negotiate with their US counterparts over a summit in Bali between Mr Xi and Mr Biden, the first in-person meeting since the American president was elected.

Beijing also sent further signals that Mr Xi will meet with Mr Albanese at the Bali summit of G20 leaders.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Australian counterpart Penny Wong in a Tuesday evening call that there had been “positive changes” in the relationship.

The two foreign ministers covered some of the unresolved issues that have piled up in the five years since Mr Xi last held a meeting with an Australian prime minister.

“China and Australia should gradually address each other’s legitimate concerns,” Mr Wang told Senator Wong, according to an account by China’s Foreign Ministry.

The centralisation of all key decision-making around Mr Xi increases the importance of leader-level meetings with him.

The Albanese government has low expectations about the scope of improvement, aiming instead to “stabilise” ties with China.

Ending the imprisonment of Australians Cheng Lei and Yang Hengjun, and unwinding trade bans on Australian exports previously worth $20bn a year, are Canberra’s top priorities.

Over the past three years, Australia’s strained relationship with China has become less exceptional among the G20 countries.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has spoken with increased alarm about Beijing’s aggression towards Taiwan.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned this week that China was “play(ing) aggressive games” to undermine its democratic institutions amid reports that Beijing had actively interfered in recent Canadian federal elections. In recent weeks, Italy’s new populist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Britain’s new leader Rishi Sunak both ran tough-on-China campaigns to get their new jobs.

The Biden administration has continued to implement policies designed to slow down China’s hi-tech industry, which has dual-use military applications.

During his inspection tour of China’s military command on Tuesday, Mr Xi addressed this pushback indirectly.

“Xi stressed that China’s national security is facing increased instability and uncertainty,” party state media reported.

Chinese experts have low expectations before Mr Xi’s meeting with Mr Biden.

Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations and director of the Centre on American Studies at Beijing’s prestigious Renmin University, said that tense relations between the world’s two strongest powers was the “new normal”.

Dr Shi said the tension the two countries moved in was “different from the past” and warned of an emerging “confrontation spiral”. “Especially on the Taiwan issue and the East China Sea and South China Sea issues, the ‘new normal’ is reflected in the repeated alternation of partial cessation and renewed tension, the two sides are less willing to make limited but important compromises on major issues,” he said.