Earlier this week Xi Jinping, the Chinese emperor for life president provoked an angry rebuke from Taiwan's pro-independence president when he demanded during a landmark speech earlier this week that Taiwan submit to "reunification" with Beijing.

And as if tensions between China and the international community weren't already high enough amid a worsening economic slowdown that's hurting global economic growth and a tenuous trade "truce" with the US,  in another speech delivered on Friday during a meeting of top officials from China's Central Military Commission which he leads, Xi took his belligerent rhetoric one step further by issuing his first military command of 2019: that "all military units must correctly understand major national security and development trends, and strengthen their sense of unexpected hardship, crisis and battle."

"The world is facing a period of major changes never seen in a century, and China is still in an important period of strategic opportunity for development," Xi said and added that China's armed forces must "prepare for a comprehensive military struggle from a new starting point," Xi said adding that "preparation for war and combat must be deepened to ensure an efficient response in times of emergency."