Analysis | Will 'strongman' Xi Jinping lead China into armed conflicts with rival neighbours?
President's assertive tone and focus on military power of growing concern in region, experts say
China has become more willing to show off its military might since President Xi Jinping came to power as he wants to send a message to people at home and abroad that he is a strongman willing to take touch action, military and political analysts said.
But international relations experts fear this is raising concerns that China might use force to solve its territorial disputes with its Asian neighbours.
“Xi said his personality and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s were very similar when he visited Moscow early last year, hinting that he would be as strong as Putin when dealing with domestic and foreign affairs,” Beijing-based political commentator Zhang Lifan said.
“When looking back at what he has done over the past year or so, I think Xi is trying to abandon the party’s long-standing collective leadership tradition designed by Deng Xiaoping during the 1980s economic opening and intends to make himself a master of neo-authoritarianism.”
Xi, the son of the revolutionary hero Xi Zhongxun, served as personal secretary to former defence minister and Central Military Commission secretary-general Geng Biao early in his career and has a closer relationship with the People’s Liberation Army than his two predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao .
When he became chairman of the military commission, the army’s top brass, in November 2012 he called on the PLA to turn itself into a modern combat force through intensified military drills, the upgrading of technology and weaponry and by overhauling the way it is commanded.