President Xi wants China to 'break new ground' while developing weapons

According to China's Xinhua News Agency, President Xi Jinping has urged the country's manufacturers to "break new ground" while developing military equipment.

The Chinese president made the remarks at a military conference as he asked efforts should be accelerated in the current 14th five-year plan. China has increasingly put its emphasis on modernising the PLA.

The country had recently displayed its military arsenal at the China Air Show in Zhuhai earlier this month as it displayed the J-20 stealth fighter.

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Central military commission (CMC) chairman Zhang Youxia also laid emphasis on "synergy in weaponry and equipment development".

Xi latest comment comes as tensions between Taiwan and China have been at an all-time high as Chinese Air Force planes have repeatedly entered Taipei's air defence zone this month.

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Earlier in the month, China had sent a record number of 56 warplanes into Taiwan as the country's defence forces scrambled its jets to thwart the Chinese Air Force.

Amid renewed tensions, President Biden had declared that the United States is committing towards defending Taiwan as he told a television channel that the US will be able to keep up with China's rapid military development.

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Xi recently said that that "national reunification by peaceful means best serves the interests of the nation as a whole, including our brethren in Taiwan" amid tensions with the island nation. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province which it has earlier vowed to take by force if necessary.

(With inputs from Agencies)