China Plans a Huge Military Parade for 80th Anniversary of the End Of World War II and Victory Over Japan
June 26—Global Times reported today that China will hold a huge military parade on Sept. 3 in Tiananmen Square to commemorate the 80th anniversary of what the State Council Information Office termed the “Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.” The semi-official daily reported that China’s State Council Information Office held a press conference June 24 to present details on what this event will involve. President Xi Jinping will review the troops during the parade and will also give a major speech. Foreign guests have been invited, including former political figures, “senior officials from relevant countries,” plus heads of major international organizations, foreign diplomats and military attachés stationed in China, representatives of international organizations in China and “international friends or their descendants who contributed to China’s victory in the war.”
There will be an impressive display of China’s military hardware and technology—which will include domestically produced battle equipment already in service as well as the new generation of traditional weapons and equipment, some new combat forces and hypersonic warfare equipment. This, says Global Times, reflects “the Chinese military’s strong ability to evolve according to science and technological advancement and to win future wars.”
Military affairs expert Song Zhongping told Global Times that the country’s latest weapons and equipment will be a major focus of the event, especially new types of combat forces. It will show that China’s defense industry can fully support the military in defending China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The parade will demonstrate China’s commitment to upholding the post-war international order, he added, and show its “resolute opposition to any resurgence of fascism on the global stage.” In the midst of a deteriorating global security situation, this will show China’s role “as a crucial powerful stabilizing force for regional and world peace.”
Li Haidong, a professor at China’s Foreign Affairs University, told Global Times that the 80th anniversary commemoration of China’s defeat of Japanese aggression and the world anti-fascist war has relevance today. It serves to “reaffirm and consolidate the fruits of victory in World War II, particularly in today’s context of a volatile and complex international landscape.” He observed, in recent years some major powers “have become increasingly fixated on confrontation and geopolitical rivalry, leading to frequent distortions and misinterpretations of the World War II legacy.” This, has led to growing instability “in the current international order.”