War with US under Trump becoming ‘practical reality’: Chinese military official

PLA soldiers in China/Reuters (file photo)

A senior Chinese military official has warned that war with the US under Donald Trump’s presidency is “not just a slogan” but becoming a “practical reality”.

The official’s remarks were published on the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) website.

The South China Morning Post quoted the official from the Commission’s Defence Mobilisation Department as saying: “A war ‘within the president’s term’ or ‘war breaking out tonight’ are not just slogans, they are becoming a practical reality.”

According to the publication, the official also called for military deployments in the tense South and East China Seas and for a missile defence system to guard the Korean peninsula.

Trump has antagonised Beijing by ignoring the US’ longstanding ‘One China’ policy and publicly engaging with the President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has also backed a US naval blockade of artificial Chinese islands in the South China Sea.