CHINESE President Xi Jinping has called for greater use of technology and the deployment of a “smart system” for border defence to meet “new opportunitiesandchallenges”, amidst Beijing’s unresolvedlandandmaritime territorial disputes with its neighbours. The instructions were made during a group studysessiononTuesday attended by the Communist Party’s 24-member Politburo, its top policymaking body. 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,”HongKong-based South China Morning Post reported on Thursday.

 

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,thePostreportsaid. However, an article published last year in the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of thePeople’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 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.

 

“As the world undergoes a century of acceleratingchanges, the influencing factors have become increasingly complex. The constructionof border, maritime, and airdefence faces new opportunities and challenges,” Xi said. China is facing tensions onmultiple fronts, including themilitary standoff with India ineasternLadakhsinceMay2020after Chinese troops aggressivelymoved closertotheLAC. Since then, the two sideshave so far held 21 rounds of Corps Commander-level talks to resolve the stand off.Thet wosidesso far agreedtodisengage from four points, namely theGalwan Valley, the PangongLake, Hot Springs, and JiananDaban (Gogra) in easternLadakh. India is pressing thePLA to disengage from theDepsang and Demchok areas, maintaining thatthere cannotbe the restoration of normalcy in its relations with Chinaas long as the state of the borders remains abnormal.