Fighter jets yesterday flew low over Beijing as thousands of soldiers from China, Russia and other nations rehearsed for a military parade sheduled for next month to commemorate the end of World War II.
The Sept. 3 parade is to showcase the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s rapidly growing capabilities at a time when Beijing is asserting territorial claims in the South China Sea and East China Sea.
The city center was closed to the public, but photographs on social media showed Chinese missile carriers rolling through Tiananmen Square and troops carrying the flags of Mongolia and Cuba. Military helicopters flew over forming the figure “70.”
Photo: AFP
More than 10,000 Chinese military personnel, with more than 500 vehicles and about 200 aircraft, took part in the rehearsal, Xinhua news agency reported.
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Mexico also plan to participate, according to state media. The government has said more than 10 other nations are taking part, but has not identified the others.
China said the parade is to mark the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II and to demonstrate its commitment to peace.
However, it comes as other governments are expressing unease at Beijing’s confrontational stance toward territorial disputes. That has made taking part in next month’s parade politically charged.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and Czech President Milos Zeman have accepted invitations to attend, along with unidentified leaders from Central Asia, according to state media.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye has said she would attend a ceremony marking the anniversary of victory over Japan in World War II, but aides say she has yet to decide whether to attend the military parade.
Beijing is also actively courting support for its rivalry with Japan, which many Chinese say has never shown adequate contrition for its World War II invasion of China.
On Saturday, propaganda officials took foreign reporters to a military base outside Beijing where hundreds of troops in dress uniforms and battle attire marched along a strip of tarmac.
China’s last such military parade was in 2009 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
RSS