By Franz-Stefan Gady
Beijing announced cuts of 300,000 troops while parading some of the deadliest missiles in the PLA’s arsenal.
Beijing’s grand military parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the surrender of Japan and the end of the Second World War involved more than 12,000 troops from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Second Artillery Force, and Armed Police marching down Chang’an Avenue by Tiananmen Square, along with approximately 500 military vehicles and around 200 aircraft.
Notably, in his pre-parade keynote speech, delivered from a podium overlooking Tiananmen Square, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced cuts in the size of the military. “I announce that China will reduce military personnel numbers by 300,000,” he said while noting that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is “loyally committed to its sacred duty of defending the security of the motherland and the peaceful life of the people, and loyally committed to the sacred duty of safeguarding world peace.”
The force reduction would constitute an approximately 13 percent cut in the active duty strengths of the 2.3 million strong Chinese military. However, Xi did not indicate when the planned reduction in size might begin. The largest reduction of PLA manpower in China’s recent history occurred in 1997 when a cut of 500,000 troops was announced.
The parade also involved 1,000 foreign troops from 17 countries, including 75 members of the elite Russian 154th Infantry Regiment, which had the honor of being the last marching phalanx passing Tiananmen Square and concluding the massive military spectacle.
Read the full story at The Diplomat