Xi Jinping has warned that China will not tolerate any infringement of its sovereignty or territory, in a speech delivered as the country finds itself embroiled in several territorial disputes with neighbours.
“We will never seek aggression or expansion but we have the confidence to defeat all invasions,” the Chinese president said in an hour-long speech on the 90th anniversary of the founding of the country’s army. “We will never allow any people, organisation or political party to split any part of Chinese territory out of the country.”
His comments came as Japan mounted a formal diplomatic protest to demand that China stop its renewed drilling operations in the East China Sea.