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China’s military
ChinaMilitary

Xi Jinping calls for hi-tech ‘smart system’ to boost China’s border defence

  • Chinese president urges new methods to protect air, sea and border as Beijing faces ‘new opportunities and challenges’

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China aims to turn its People’s Liberation Army into a modern fighting force by 2027. Photo: Weibo
Amber Wangin Beijing

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for greater use of technology and the deployment of a “smart system” for border defence to meet “new opportunities and challenges”.

The instructions were made during a group study session on Tuesday attended by the Communist Party’s 24-member Politburo, the party’s top policymaking body. Such sessions usually give a glimpse of the leadership’s priorities.

Xi highlighted the need to “strengthen technological empowerment” in border defence, “enhance the development of new methods and conditions for border, maritime, and air defence, and build a comprehensive and smart management and control system”.

This aligns with Xi’s repeated calls to improve the use of advanced technology in the armed forces to meet modernisation goals by 2027 and achieve the goal of building a world-class military by 2050.

Tuesday’s meeting lacked details about what the “smart” systems would entail.

However, an article published last year in the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of the People’s Liberation Army, said technological advancements for border defence included modernised reconnaissance, surveillance, and early warning networks for efficient monitoring, as well as unmanned weapons incorporating AI.

Xi also called for efforts to build a “strong, stable, and modern” border defence, as well as air and sea defence, to safeguard the country’s national security and interests.

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