China Vows to Work For World Peace at War Anniversary Parade


2015.09.03
china-xijinping-Sept32015.jpeg Chinese president Xi Jinping reviews troops at a massive military parade in Beijing, Sept. 3, 2015.
GREG BAKER/AFP

China staged a massive and impeccably choreographed military parade in Beijing on Thursday, rolling out a display of military hardware and vowing to work for world peace as the ruling Chinese Communist Party marked the 70th anniversary of its victory over Japan at the end of World War II.

Tiananmen Square, scene of the 1989 student-led mass democracy protests and subsequent massacre, and the adjacent gate to the former imperial palace were decked out in red carpet and lined with military and government dignitaries and a handful of foreign leaders, including United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

President Xi Jinping reviewed the troops from an open-top vehicle in the presence of carefully selected dignitaries.

But several weeks of nationwide security checks and police cordons across Beijing meant there was a notable absence of the joyful, unruly crowds who welcomed late supreme leader Mao Zedong's proclamation of the People's Republic of China from the same spot on Oct. 1, 1949.

Xi used the parade to send a message of peace, and to announce largely symbolic cuts of 300,000 soldiers from the PLA.

"We Chinese love peace," Xi said. "No matter how much stronger it may become, China will never seek hegemony or expansion. It will never inflict its past suffering on any other nation."

"The Sword of Damocles of war still hangs over the heads of mankind," Xi said, according to the published text of his speech issued by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

"We should make history serve as a mirror, so as to harden our determination to safeguard peace."

MIlitary hardware on display

As the parade began, some 12,000 crack display troops of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) marched along Beijing's Chang'an Avenue together with veterans who fought for the pre-1949 nationalist government and around 1,000 foreign troops, including a detachment sent by visiting Russian president Vladimir Putin.

They were shadowed overhead by 200 military aircraft spelling out the number "70," and followed by ranks of hardware including inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), ZTZ-96A main battle tanks, HJ-12 anti-tank missiles, and H-6K mid-range strategic bombers, official media reported.

The parade, which is widely seen as a form of military muscle-flexing by Beijing, drew scant interest from Western leaders, but guests included North Korean Politburo member Choe Ryong-hae, Vietnamese president Truong Tan Sang, and the U.S. Ambassador.

During the parade, thousands of male choristers in full military uniform launched into a series of rousing communist anthems of the 1930s, including "Defend the Yellow River," "The Guerilla Song," and the stirring lament "Over Taihang Mountain."

Chongqing-based political commentator Zhang Qi said the entire parade was aimed at showing off China's financial and military might to the rest of the world, and that the cuts in the military had more to do with slowing economic growth than a desire for peace.

"Our revenue has been on a continuous decline in the first seven months of this year," Zhang said.

"To say that they are disarming for peace is just a gimmick; it has far more to do with factors in the domestic and international environment," he said. "It's an adjustment; there's no practical significance."

"It won't affect China's military capabilities; it might even boost them, because they can spend that money on more effective things."

'Propaganda tool'

Veteran military analyst Wu Ge said Xi's announcement was a nod to those who see the parade as a show of force.

"It's a propaganda tool, nothing more," Wu said, adding that he thought the parade was overkill.

"I think they overdid it, and it has shone a bit too much of a light on the individual and factional power struggles within the party," he said. "Internationally, diplomatically ...[it comes] at a time of hostility to Japan, when relations are in a deep trough."

"I think the military parade will have a very negative impact on our international image."

A Beijing-based academic surnamed Yang said the scale of the military cuts is far smaller than previous cuts dealt out to the PLA.

"300,000 troops is nothing. Back when Deng Xiaoping was in charge, he would cut by a million at a time," Yang said. "It's a drop in the ocean compared with a nation of 1.4 billion."

He said Xi had sought to project an image of a strong leader at home and overseas.

"Today, of course it was all about showing how strong our country is," Yang said. "But at the same time, [Xi], as the leader of a one-party dictatorship, also projected an image of himself as a strongman."

But in spite of the pomp and ceremony, ordinary Chinese have hit out at draconian security measures ahead of the parade, with major shopping districts shut down and police checkpoints on major transportation links into Beijing.

Entertainment shows have been pulled from TV screens to make way for documentaries and retrospectives about the war era, as Beijing seeks to remind the world that hundreds of millions of Chinese people were among the dead of World War II, according to official media.

Petitioners detained

The security measures have entailed a widespread crackdown on anyone pursuing complaints against the government, with petitioners detained and escorted to their hometowns, often to be held in unofficial detention or house arrest until the restrictions are lifted.

Meanwhile, the relatives of dozens of political prisoners on Thursday hit out at the continued detention of their loved ones in spite of an amnesty extended to some prisoners ahead of the anniversary celebrations.

"I am trying to use my letters to lessen the mental stress he is going through," Wang Yanfang, wife of detained Guangzhou Three rights lawyer Tang Jingling said.

"He has been stuck in a cell for one year and three months with no access to the exercise yard," Wang said. "I don't even know if [he] can see the sun."

Zeng Jieshan, wife of fellow Guangzhou Three inmate Wang Qingying, said she also fears for her husband's mental health.

"There have been some illegal acts inside that detention center," Zeng said. "He had a nervous breakdown after being bullied in there, and thought about killing himself several times."

Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wen Yuqing, Ka Pa and Wei Ling for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

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