It was the best of shows, it was the worst of shows: As 12,000 troops and hundreds of tanks and missiles rolled through Tiananmen Square in front of invited guest and foreign leaders, Beijing residents were barred from watching.
Barricades were set up hundreds of meters from the parade marking 70 years since Japan’s World War II defeat, and squads of police and blue-shirted volunteers blocked access to the deserted streets.
Residents whose homes overlooked the route itself were ordered not to go onto their balconies or even open their windows.
Photo: AP
Crowds of about 100 citizens gathered at intersections to try to catch a glimpse of the hardware as it rolled by in the distance, but were disappointed.
“Of course I’m proud, I’m Chinese,” translator Zhao Yufeng said. “But I think more people would feel more involved if we could see the soldiers and tanks.”
Instead most watched the live broadcast on mobile phones, as the city took on an atmosphere of years past, with residents sitting out on the streets chatting or playing cards.
A man in his 20s surnamed Guo said he understood the need for security, but was skeptical of the authorities’ handling of the event.
“We’ve been brainwashed from such a young age to hate Japanese, we call them ghosts, so it’s easy for the leadership to justify a massive show of force today,” he said.
However, as Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) began speaking, Guo cut the live broadcast and pocketed his smartphone.
“He’s not going to say anything interesting,” Guo said.
For some, the parade restrictions were an expensive imposition.
Wang Xingyu and his wife have a noodle shop close to the parade route and sleep in a room behind the kitchen. They only go home to visit their families in Shaanxi Province once a year.
They are open seven days a week, but their hard work has been interrupted by the commemorations, which saw them forced to close for two days.
“We’re losing money and no one cares about us,” Wang said, visibly flustered. “Maybe if we could open, people would come, eat and they could watch the parade on our television.”
“Instead, everyone is just standing around here with nothing to do,” he added. “And we can’t even see anything.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of