South China Morning Post
Staff Reporter
September 4, 2015
President Xi Jinping said on Thursday he would cut military personnel by 300,000 – twice the size of the British armed forces – by 2017, shortly before presiding over an unprecedented parade laden with symbolism and messages.
The parade to commemorate China’s victory against Japanese aggression in the second world war was groundbreaking in many ways.
It was the first parade China had held for a war anniversary and the first with foreign participation. It was also the first time Xi had reviewed troops as head of state and delivered a speech atop the Tiananmen Rostrum.
Soldiers march during the military parade in Beijing. Photo: Xinhua
The scale of the event dwarfed all those before it. Some 12,000 soldiers, 50 generals, 500 pieces of military hardware and nearly 200 aircraft went before the Tiananmen Square audience, which included a comprehensive list of current and retired top leaders.
Dressed in the slate-grey, high-buttoned Chinese suit named after Kuomintang founder Sun Yat-sen and favoured by Communist founder Mao Zedong, a stern-looking Xi inspected the troops in his purpose-made Red Flag limousine. Fifty generals then led 50 Chinese formations down Changan Avenue, followed by phalanxes from 17 countries.
It was a grand gesture that served as a statement of intent to audiences in China and abroad.
To Chinese people, the parade symbolised the dramatic transformation of the country from the brink of oblivion to a potential world superpower in the span of a lifetime. The century-old dream of “rich country, strong army” was shown finally to be within grasp.
The Bethune international medical phalanx. Photo: Xinhua
“[The war] was the first major victory by China and [it] marked the end of an era of foreign imperialism,” said Wang Yukai, a professor at the National Academy of Governance in Beijing.
The Communist Party, which played second fiddle to the Kuomintang in the war, nevertheless sees itself as the true force behind China’s renaissance. Its legitimacy rests on how it has returned an ancient civilisation that suffered 100 years of humiliation at the hands of foreign powers to the forefront of the world stage.
The parade also served as a morale-booster to the People’s Liberation Army, whose leadership has grown complacent and corrupt.
Xi’s announcement of the troop reduction was part of a larger reform to rejuvenate the army and put it on a par with the best of the West, as the South China Morning Post first reported on Wednesday.
“It shows a new image of the military and eases concerns that the PLA has been shaken by the anti-corruption campaign,” Wang said.
To the international community, Xi used the occasion to highlight China’s contribution to the victory of the Allied Powers.
Trainer aircraft fly by Tiananmen Square. Photo: Xinhua
At a cost of 20 million lives, 80 million refugees and widespread destruction of its cities and industries, China bogged down a large part of the Japanese Imperial army for eight years.
Its troops fought side by side with American and British soldiers in the jungles of Myanmar.
“With huge national sacrifice, the Chinese people held ground in the main theatre in the East of the World Anti-Fascist War, thus making a major contribution to its victory,” Xi said.
“In the interests of peace, we need to foster a keen sense of a global community of a shared future,” the president said.
As 23 heads of state, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and South Korean President Park Geun-hye, looked on, Xi pledged that China would “never seek hegemony or expansion”.
“All countries should jointly uphold the international order and system underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter,” Xi added.
Beijing-based commentator Wu Ge said the timing of the troop reduction announcement was to soften the parade’s impact. “It is a tactful move to ease international concerns about the rise of China’s military.”
