HONG KONG — A camouflage-clad President Xi Jinping appeared on Wednesday at the joint battle command center of China’s Central Military Commission, where he urged officers to build a command system that was “capable of winning wars,” according to state news reports.
Mr. Xi, who is general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, is also chairman of the Central Military Commission, which runs the country’s armed forces. After his visit on Wednesday, a new title was unveiled in the state and party news media: commander in chief of the joint battle command center.
Although predecessors like President Hu Jintao delegated operational responsibilities to professional soldiers, the new title reflects Mr. Xi’s desire to have a more direct role, said You Ji, who oversees the department of government and public administration at the University of Macau.
“Quite simply, it’s a symbol of ultimate command and control of the armed forces,” Professor You said.
Mr. Xi was shown speaking to officers and seated at a central dais, with other members of the military commission flanking him.
“The current situation requires battle command to be highly strategic, coordinated, timely, professional and accurate,” he said, according to Xinhua, the state news agency.
“All must be done with the ultimate goal of improving battle command capacities and measured by the standards of being able to fight and win wars,” he added.
The Chinese military has traditionally suffered from weak coordination of its various forces, something Mr. Xi hopes to change, said Michael Raska, assistant professor in the military transformations program at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
“This long, funky title is part of accelerating reforms at the operational level,” Mr. Raska said.
Like his predecessors, Mr. Xi generally wears an olive-green Mao suit when carrying out his Central Military Commission duties. But on occasion he has also worn camouflage fatigues when meeting People’s Liberation Army troops, as he did on Wednesday along with the rest of the staff of the joint battle command center.
“It’s very carefully crafted,” Mr. Raska said of Mr. Xi’s appearance. “It shows he’s part of the P.L.A. and the convergence of policy and the military.”
Mr. Xi became chairman of the Central Military Commission in 2012. Mr. Hu had been expected to stay in that position for a few more years, and Mr. Xi’s rise as leader of the commission was an early sign of his rapid accumulation of power at the top of the Chinese government.
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