Xu holds the rank of Senior Colonel in the People's Liberation Army Air Force.

He graduated from the Telecommunication Engineering Institute, Air Force Engineering University and the Shanghai Branch, Nanjing Political Academy; and has served as a journalist on several publications, including the Global Times, People's Daily Online, and Utopia (Internet forum).

[citation needed] Dai is often noted for expressing hawkish or controversial opinions.

In August 2012, for example, he described Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan as "the three running dogs of the United States in Asia," and argued that "We only need to kill one, and it will immediately bring the others to heel.

It's all about terrifying lasers, and much less about engineering a new strain of bird flu to deploy against Chinese citizens."