A week from today, China will host a huge international gathering. The event will mark the 70th anniversary of the date Japan signed the formal surrender ending the Second World War. But this year’s anniversary in Beijing also carries some controversy. HPR’s Bill Dorman explains in today’s Asia Minute.
China’s government says thirty heads of state will be in Beijing next week for ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two. Or as the state media call it, the “Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.”
Russia’s Vladimir Putin will be a headliner, along with South Korean President Park Geun-hye. President Obama was invited but is not going. That’s also the case for leaders of countries from Britain and France to India and Australia, as well as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The centerpiece will be a military parade. Chinese officials say some 12-thousand troops will march through Tiananmen Square, mostly Chinese, but also a thousand foreigners--from Russia, Mongolia and 15 other countries. The parade will feature fly-overs by military aircraft, and will likely resemble those old Soviet-style reviews.
And you can expect good weather—the government clearly does. China’s official news agency Xinhua reports the government has already been cutting down on traffic allowed in the city, as well as scaling back on local factory production. The Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs says the activities are not meant to target Japan, but to “remember history, cherish the memory of China’s revolutionary martyrs, uphold peace and create the future.”
