Lights. Camera. War cry: China rallies troops with video as Taiwan tensions mount
- Military’s Eastern Theatre Command releases song with soldiers saying they are ready to die on the battlefield
- Lyrics describe need to ‘safeguard every inch of our land’
They’re ready to roll and to give their life to the cause of unification.
“If war breaks out, this would be my answer.”
The video’s release comes as tensions mount with the United States and Taiwan, the self-rule island that Beijing claims as its own.
“Every day fully armoured and every moment ready to go, I am committed to the mission with my life,” the song goes.
The video, which was produced by the PLA Rocket Force, shows soldiers in live-fire exercises in various environments, from jungles to beach landings, as well as land-based missiles being set up and fired.
“We will march to the battlefield without looking back, shoulder the duty and hope of the people, safeguard every inch of our land and everything on it, if one day the war broke out,” the Eastern Theatre Command says in the end.
Beijing, which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province, has prepared the PLA for decades to stop the island pursuing independence and to bring it back under the mainland’s rule.
The command has said that all the military action in the region was “necessary to deal with the current situation across the Taiwan Strait”.
“The PLA Eastern Theatre Command troops will resolutely perform their duties and missions, and have the confidence and determination to thwart any attempt by any person or force to carry out Taiwan independence separatist activities in any form,” it said.