China loves peace, but never compromises on sovereignty: Xi

China will never compromise on its sovereignty, security or development interests, President Xi Jinping said Tuesday at an Army Day celebration.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at the ceremony to mark the 90th founding anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army, which falls on Aug. 1.

“The Chinese people love peace. We will never seek aggression or expansion, but we have the confidence to defeat all invasions. We will never allow any people, organization or political party to split any part of Chinese territory from the country at any time, in any form,” Xi said.

“No one should expect us to swallow bitter fruit that is harmful to our sovereignty, security or development interests,” he said.

The people’s army should firmly safeguard the CPC’s leadership and the socialist system, protect national sovereignty, security and development interests as well as regional and world peace, he said.

He urged the PLA to focus on war preparedness to forge an elite and powerful force that is always “ready for the fight, capable of combat and sure to win.”

There are various means and choices to safeguard peace and security and prevent war, but military means should remain the final guarantee, he said.

The life of the people’s military lies in combat ability, he said, urging the PLA to strengthen its awareness of being prepared for any eventualities.

“All thoughts must be put on combat, and all work should focus on combat so the military can assemble, charge forward and win any time the Party and the people need them to,” he said.

The level of military training should be raised to actual combat standards, he said.