China's Hu Urges Navy to Prepare for Combat

(Newsroom America) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao has urged the country's navy to prepare for combat amid rising tensions in the Asia-Pacific region over maritime disputes and a U.S. bid to reassert itself in the region.

The navy should "accelerate its transformation and modernisation in a sturdy way, and make extended preparations for military combat in order to make greater contributions to safeguard national security," Hu said in comments to the powerful Central Military Commission.

"Our work must closely encircle the main theme of national defence and military building," he said, in remarks that were posted to a government Web site.

The U.S. has been increasingly concerned about China's bid to grow its influence in the South China Sea in particular. China claims all of the maritime area, as does neighboring Taiwan, which China considers little more than a breakaway region.

Four other Asian nations claim parts of the same area, and U.S. intelligence and military officials have warned in the past the area is ripe for conflict over competition for some of the regions resources.

Pentagon officials downplayed Hu's comments, saying that China, like the U.S., had a right to develop its naval forces.

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