By Bo Zhiyue
The military parade on September 3 was President Xi Jinping’s coming-out party. What messages did he send?
On September 3, 2015, the Chinese Communist Party conducted its first military parade in the past 66 years on the occasion of commemorating victory against the Japanese invaders. Previously, military parades have been conducted on the occasion of the anniversaries (particularly the tenth anniversaries) of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Three things are noteworthy about the parade. First, there seems to be a contradiction between the verbal language of Xi’s speech and the “body language” of the parade. Instead of sending a stern warning to China’s neighbors about her determination to defend her “core interests,” Xi told the audience that China would follow the path of “peaceful development” and would reduce its troops by 300,000. Throughout the parade, however, the choir kept singing war-time songs about fighting the enemies. The weapons on display from the People’s Liberation Army were said to be 84 percent new since 2009.
Second, in spite of rumors about the fierce power struggles between Xi and Jiang, Jiang Zemin appeared on the top of the Tiananmen Gate along with Hu Jintao and other retired senior leaders. Xi made it clear in his speech that he would continue to follow the guide of Jiang’s “three represents” along with Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, and Deng Xiaoping Theory as well as Hu Jintao’s “scientific outlook on development” in his future work.
Read the full story at The Diplomat