Beijing shuts down for commemoration parade rehearsal

[Randy W]

Beijing shuts down for commemoration parade rehearsal



http://cdn1.scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/486x302/public/2015/08/22/9b782ba4db4e00adedcc323497320e47.jpg?itok=9UoUnUBo

 

"The scale and number of the missiles will surpass any previous outing," a military source was quoted as saying.

 

 

. . . and in the Shanghaiist

 

Look: Beijing holds full-scale rehearsal for next month's Victory Day Parade Edited August 23, 2015 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Xinhua video

 

https://video-atl1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hvideo-xpt1/v/t42.1790-2/11871352_1117775461583230_1395808023_n.mp4?efg=eyJybHIiOjUwNCwicmxhIjoxMTQyfQ%3D%3D&rl=504&vabr=280&oh=69d1ec4ff6d0332ae6951410a2a69971&oe=55D9C6F7

 

China will hold a military parade in its capital Beijing on September 3, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the end of World War II.

It is the first military parade in the country to mark an anniversary of the war.

 

[Randy W]

People's Daily Facebook

 

https://www.facebook.com/PeoplesDaily/videos/992796470772170/

 

Stunning: PLA released the first trailer of V-day Parade, which is shot in the training base.
The parade will be held on September 3 in Beijing to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and the victory of the war of China's resistance against the Japanese invasion.

 

[tsap seui]

Celebrate good times....come on...... have a great party Beijing!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Randy W]

"A missed opportunity?" - in the SCMP

 

With its unprecedented military parade, China is reminding Asia and the world of war, rather than peace

Steve Tsang says China's military parade marking victory over Japan sends the wrong message to the region

 

 

It is a bold decision. It is also a major error of judgment. To openly show off its military might in this way will harm rather than aid China's ambitions to rally support in Asia for its claim to regional leadership and its efforts to marginalise Japan and reduce American influence in the region.

 

China's readiness to assert itself militarily is unnerving its neighbours. Such an overt display of military power clashes with the notion of China's "peaceful rise". It also signals the definitive departure from Deng Xiaoping's strategy of downplaying its military capabilities - China is set to showcase its most advanced weaponry, something it has refrained from doing in previous parades.

 

Those outside China will understandably ask: what will this military strength be used for? After all, the boy in the playground with the biggest muscles should have no need to flaunt them. As one of the Chinese government's own favourite sayings goes: "Listen to other's words; watch their deeds." The rest of the world is watching China's deeds.

 

The boy in the playground with the biggest muscles should have no need to flaunt them

The words the Communist Party is using are also crucial here. China is not marking an Allied victory and the end of the war in Asia. It is specifically celebrating "the 70th anniversary of China's victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression". The party is affirming its historical narrative that China defeated the Japanese under the party's leadership.

 

The party's legitimacy rests on popular acceptance of this storyline. In reality, China was one of several countries that fought Imperial Japan and the Nationalists, under Chiang Kai-shek, did the bulk of the fighting in China. The 30 heads of states attending the parade are in effect validating the Communist Party's propaganda, another key reason why many others are staying away.

 

China is using the parade to send a clear message to the world. It is claiming the right to maintain what it sees as the post-war order: Japan as the defeated aggressor and China as the leading - and responsible - military power in Asia.

 

This statement reflects China's soaring confidence and growing assertiveness under President Xi Jinping , despite evidence that economic troubles lie ahead. Every Chinese leader has his own slogan. Xi's predecessor Hu Jintao called for the creation of a "harmonious society". Xi, who came to power in 2013, champions the "China Dream", a philosophy that centres on national rejuvenation under a strong military. That's quite a semantic shift in two years.

 

Most of East Asia was attacked by Japan in the second world war. The fact that many of the region's states are refusing to send top-level representatives to Beijing underlines their unease at China's rise.

 

The scale of this unease is magnified when you consider the unpopularity of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe across Asia. China, though, is squandering the opportunity to amass regional support that this negative sentiment towards Abe presents.

 

The timing of the parade is problematic for China. Although it was planned months ago, it arrives at a time when economic concerns are growing. On one hand, the parade will strengthen nationalist sentiment among many Chinese. But, on the other, many will view it as an unnecessary distraction and a sign that the Chinese government is not taking the people's anxiety over the state of the economy seriously enough.

 

The international guest list for the event is a revealing window into China's relations with the rest of the world - and further evidence that the Communist Party has alienated most leading powers by the way it has framed the event. The majority of countries that are sending high-level representatives - in particular those that are sending troops to participate in the parade, such as Mexico, Pakistan, Venezuela and states from Eastern Europe - did not fight Japan in the second world war. They are seizing the opportunity to show China their political support in return for a furthering of economic ties.

Of the major Western powers, the United States is sending its ambassador to China, Max Baucus - the lowest ranking official it could get away with without delivering a deeply embarrassing snub to China. Britain is sending lawmaker Kenneth Clarke, who has retired from ministerial duties. And while China will make some noise domestically about the attendance of former British prime minister Tony Blair, it must know that he carries little weight in current UK policy circles.

 

Even news of the decision to attend by South Korea's president Park Geun-hye fails to endorse China's approach. A long-term victim of Japanese aggression in the past, South Korea has more reason than any other country to stand by China against Japan. Yet Park was notably hesitant in accepting the invitation.

 

The tone of the commemoration would have been different if China had opted to organise a "people's parade" to mark the end of the war in Asia, instead of a military one to celebrate its victory over Japan - and a greater number of foreign dignitaries may have been prepared to attend.

 

As it is, the high-profile absentees underline just how far the Communist Party and Xi have to travel to realise the "China Dream", which surely depends on winning the trust of its neighbours.

 

Professor Steve Tsang is senior fellow at the China Policy Institute and head of the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham, UK

 

[Greg.D.]

I think the parade was supposed to be a high point in a "China Dream" year and was to occur just before the trip to the U.S. which was going to be Xi's "in your face moment".

 

Since the Shanghai bubble continues to burst and the economy slows down, the parade serves a somewhat different purpose: distraction.

 

I like that the global economy shudders of the last month reminds everybody of our connected nature and I think our prez will play it cool as he was going to all along. Just get down to business and diplomacy. I think I read that China is going to press for more investment from the U.S. but who wants to bet their money and IP in a rigged game?

 

Interesting story about Chinese interests stealing American hybrid and bio-engineered corn technology:

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/122441/corn-wars

[Greg.D.]

I watched that whole parade!

[Randy W]

from the Shanghaiist

 

Check out some things you might have missed from CCTV's wall-to-wall coverage of Beijing's Victory Day parade

[Randy W]

Probably a LOT more detail than you'd really want in this one chart - from the SCMP. This should clear up a lot of details about the Japanese occupation, going back to 1894.

 

INFOGRAPHIC: Timeline of China's long war of resistance

The second world war came to an official end with the formal surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945. For China, this brought an end to bloody hostilities stretching back to the previous century

 

 

[Randy W]

Here it is in one minute

 

[tsap seui]

Ahh, nothing like a good military parade. Quick, efficient, all in order. I especially liked the rounded off camping trailers, and the colored anti-aircraft flack at the end. Jolly good show, pip pip, and congrats on 70 years China!!!!

 

I do wish they could have pulled the Liaoning down the parade route though.