Chinese General Li Shangfu, an aerospace engineer and veteran of the People’s Liberation Army, was named as China’s new defense minister on Sunday.
Li was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in 2018 when he was director of the Department of Equipment Development, which oversees the country’s military technology.
The State Department said Li was involved in the purchase of Su-35 fighter jets and materials for S-400 surface-to-air missiles from a sanctioned Russian company.
CHINA STOLE US MILITARY SECRETS TO CREATE FORMIDABLE J-20 KNOCKOFF OF AMERICAN F-22 RAPTOR: EXPERTS
Chinese President Xi Jinping, who was elected to a third five-year term by China’s rubber stamp legislature this week, called on his country on Wednesday to bring its military up to “world-class standards” and “systematically upgrade strength of the country to cope with strategic risks”.
Zhang Youxia (C), newly elected deputy chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People’s Republic of China, takes the oath of office with Central Military Commission members He Weidong and Li Shangfu after they were elected during the fourth plenary session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 11, 2023. (GREG BAKER/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo)
China’s military spending is rising 7.2% this year to $230 billion.
CHINA REJECTS US CONCERNS ABOUT ‘SPY CRANES’ AS ‘PARANOIA’
Four Republican House committee chairs on Friday issued a joint statement citing the military buildup of the Communist Party of China (CPC) as one of the gravest threats to US national security.
“It is evident from this threat assessment that the tactics used by the CCP to achieve its goals have not worked entirely in its favor, leaving our nation at a tipping point. The CCP should not be underestimated, but the United States can still triumph in peer-to-peer competition with the CCP if our government acts swiftly and unifiedly,” the congressmen wrote.
Their warning came days after Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said his country was heading towards “conflict and confrontation” with the United States
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“If the United States does not brake – but continues to accelerate along the wrong path – no guardrail can prevent the derailment and there will certainly be conflicts and clashes and who will bear the catastrophic consequences?” Qin said at his first press conference on Tuesday.
“Such competition is a reckless bet, with the fundamental interests of the two peoples and even the future of humanity at stake.”
Brandon Gillespie and Timothy Nerozzi of Fox News Digital contributed to this report, as did Reuters.
