China’s planned military parade on Wednesday commemorating the end of World War II is a political move to project Beijing’s interests against the US-led alliance and to show Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) supreme command over the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) amid the stagnant Chinese economy, academics told a symposium in Taipei yesterday.
The meaning behind the parade is more political than military, former US deputy national security adviser to the vice president Steve Yates said by videoconference during an event hosted by the Foundation on Asia-Pacific Peace Studies.
The foundation had invited academics at home and abroad to share their view on the parade to be held at Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
Photo: CNA
China called the parade “the 80th anniversary of Chinese people’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the broader World Anti-fascist War,” to project itself as an anti-fascist and anti-totalitarian nation during WWII, Yates said.
Beijing also seeks to show that it is “protecting the world order today,” as it claims to have done during WWII, although that is an outright lie, he said, adding that the lie was vital to Xi’s revisionism.
“We all know the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] in WWII retreated and did not defeat the Japanese invasion at the time. It did not help the US and the Allies defeat the Axis powers,” Yates said. “That is somewhat a new original story for China ... to try to pretend as if today’s China was a part of this pro-freedom, pro-world order and stability, and anti-totalitarian movement of the past.”
The CCP’s historical revisionism would erase the idea of the Republic of China [ROC] from memory and marginalize the Republican era of Chinese history, he said.
That is the fundamental objective of Chinese “united front” work, and the parade is one way to do that, he said.
However, Washington has what he described as “skepticism” regarding China, as what most Americans would see is a flamboyant military display, rather than historical revisionism, and would consider it too costly to engage in conflicts against China, he said.
From a regular point of view, the US would expect Taiwan to be as committed and prepared as Ukraine in terms of defense, he said, calling on Taipei to present its positive contributions to the world and plans to invest in resilient partnerships after the parade to reassure partners.
The highlight of the parade would be those “who are invited to watch it,” Foundation on Asia-Pacific Peace Studies executive director Tung Li-wen (董立文) said.
While the arrangement or absence of Chinese officials and generals would reveal changes in internal power dynamics, the presence of Xi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could indicate the formation of a “northern triangle,” he said.
Xi aims to display his unwavering command over the Chinese military by assembling massive forces in the parade, Taipei Medical University international relations professor Chang Kuo-cheng (張國城) said.
The parade also aims to send the political message that China, Russia and North Korea are united in the east against NATO, while the US and EU have disagreements over tariffs, he said.
The parade is a governance capability competition between China and the US, with Beijing seeking to showcase its solid control over the region, international relations and domestic affairs, Chang said.
The parade could reflect badly on the CCP, as it chose to demonstrate military strength instead of giving tributes to the dead, like what its Western counterparts do during events that commemorate wars, Institute for National Defense and Security Research director Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said.
That could contribute to other countries’ perception of China as a security threat and galvanize them into adopting countermeasures and containment measures against Beijing, he said.
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