China has aired a documentary to mark People’s Liberation Army’s 96th anniversary showcasing its readiness to fight ‘at any second’. This is being seen as a warning to Taiwan, which China considers its own territory. In the documentary, Chinese soldiers have been seen pledging to sacrifice their lives if necessary.
“My fighter would be my last missile, rushing towards the enemy if in a real battle I had used up all my ammunition,” said Li Peng as quoted by SCMP. Li Peng is reportedly a J-20 pilot from Wang Hai Squadron. It is a unit of PLA’s eastern theatre command.
“If war broke out and the conditions were too difficult to safely remove the naval mines in actual combat, we will use our own bodies to clear a safe pathway for our landing forces,” says Zuo Feng, a frogman of the PLA Navy’s minesweeper unit, in the documentary as quoted by SCMP.
The documentary has reportedly featured personal stories of PLA soldiers across services and locations. It also shows footage of military exercises. It has reportedly been reiterated that “the centennial goal of the PLA must be realised”, an apparent reference to Taiwan.
SCMP said that the documentary series offers ‘restricted’ view of PLA’s operation manoeuvres like gaining air superiority, information technology suppression and sea control before an amphibious attack.
China carried out Joint Sword, an exercise that took place around Taiwan. Parts of the documentary focus on the exercise too. The exercise was carried out in April when Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen visited the US.
