Time to reflect on the ever present battle against fascism
- By Sumantra Maitra
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E-mail China.org.cn, September 2, 2015
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Soldiers take part in a training at a training base in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 25, 2015. Soldiers who will escort Chinese national flag in the Sept. 3 military parade have been trained here as from June in uniforms. The military parade will be held in Beijing on Sept. 3 to mark the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggressions and the World Anti-Fascist War. [Xinhua/Lin Yiguang] |
The 70th anniversary parade in memory of the end of World War II is being conducted by China at a time of profound global significance. It is China's first military parade to commemorate the end of World War II and the victory of the war of its resistance against the Japanese invasion, where a total of 12,000 troops, 500 pieces of equipment, and nearly 200 aircraft will take part.
Among the Western countries, United Kingdom, France and Australia will send government ministers to the event, while the United States will send its ambassador to China. Of the BRICS countries, Brazil and India are also expected to send "special envoys," according to a report in Global Times. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder will also attend the parade. Russian President Putin is also visiting the parade.
Mr. Shinzo Abe is not going to visit, which is understandable, although both his office and the Chinese administration maintained that scheduling is responsible for this, and it is expected that Abe will be visiting immediately after the parade celebrations. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon is also visiting Beijing. In a report in Xinhua he said: "China's contribution and sacrifice during the Second World War is very much recognized, (China is) appreciated for all such sufferings, and sympathized by the world's people. It's important to look to the past, what kinds of lessons we have been learning, and how we can move ahead to a brighter future based on the lessons learned. That is the main purpose."
There have of course been debates and commentaries about the timing of this parade. Many people have tried to find a correlation between Chinese stock market ups and downs and this celebration, however that is unfounded. This parade has been in preparation for quite a while now, when there was no sign of the stock market either falling or stabilizing, so the logic that the two are manufactured or correlated is a bit hyper-conspiracy theoretical and farfetched.
There have been celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the end of the most devastating war in human history thus far, and China, being one of the front line combatants, and one of the countries suffering a staggering human loss, has a right to mark the anniversary. It is foolish to infer this act as a hidden message to the West or Japan.
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