Chinese military parade's main message is not peace but power

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/03/chinese-military-parade-peace-power-xi-jinping

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It was all about peace, Xi Jinping insisted. “We Chinese love peace,” the president said as he stared out over Tiananmen Square and addressed the thousands who had gathered for his gigantic military parade. “No matter how much stronger it may become, China will never seek hegemony or expansion.”

Then came the nuclear missiles. “The DF-5B can carry several nuclear warheads,” a commentator boasted as China’s most state-of-the-art weaponry rattled down Beijing’s Avenue of Eternal Peace past stands packed with flag-waving Communist party supporters. “It is a significant symbol of our country’s national defence power as well as a strong boost for the defence of our national sovereignty and dignity.”

As another intercontinental ballistic missile rolled into view on the back of a truck, the commentator continued: “The DF-31A is the backbone of our efficient strategic retaliatory attack plan.” On state television a presenter struggled to contain his excitement. “Look at this missile, it can hit Hawaii.”

Xi Jinping: "We love peace" State TV commenter on parade: "Look at this missile, it can hit Hawaii"

Party propagandists spun the event – put on to remember the second world war – as a parade for peace. Posters and banners featuring the event’s official logo, a white dove, had been plastered all across Beijing in recent weeks.

“Prejudice, discrimination, hatred and war can only cause disaster and suffering, while mutual respect, equality, peaceful development and common prosperity represent the right path to take,” Xi said in a 10-minute opening speech that featured the word “peace” 17 times.

But Thursday’s spectacle was about power, not peace. Almost three years after he became China’s leader, in November 2012, Xi wants to show the region and the world that his country is a major political and military force as well as an economic one.

More importantly, he needs to bolster his domestic position as top dog amid growing hints that a bitter and potentially destabilising split is opening up at the top of the 85 million-member Communist party.

Xi’s domestic image has taken a battering this summer as a result of Beijing’s handling of a stock market meltdown and the botched government response to a catastrophic explosion in Tianjin.

“He wants to establish the image of being the most powerful leader since Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping,” said Zhang Lifan, a Chinese historian known for his outspoken criticism of the government. “The parade is a good way of demonstrating his power and further strengthening his control of the army.”

Thursday’s two-hour celebration sought to do so in spectacular and distinctly Stalinist style. At around 9.45am, People’s Liberation Army musicians in white and green uniforms kicked off proceedings with an explosion of brass and baritone. “We are all sharpshooters, each bullet takes out an enemy,” they bellowed. “We are born in this place, every inch of the land belongs to us. Whoever wants to invade it, we will fight them to death.”

Minutes later Tiananmen shook as an eerie 70-gun salute echoed across the scene of the bloody 1989 military crackdown.

The leader whom China calls Xi Dada, or Big Daddy Xi, stepped forward in a black Mao suit to address the handpicked crowd through six large microphones. “Comrades and friends, today is a day that will forever be etched in the memory of people all over the world,” he said.

By 10.45am, column after column of troops were stomping their way into the political heart of China’s capital, past the portrait of Chairman Mao and a balcony packed with leaders including Vladimir Putin, South Korea’s Park Geun-hye and Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir.

Tanks in camouflage green and airmail blue clattered by, spewing fumes into the morning air; foot soldiers marched by clutching automatic weapons to their chests; fighter jets flashed through the perfect blue skies above the Great Hall of the People.

As Xi’s biggest guns appeared on the avenue, a commentator offered spectators a hair-raising guide to China’s rapidly growing military capabilities. “The DF-21D is a land-based missile for targeting vessels,” he said. “It is our army’s killer weapon in asymmetric warfare.”

Related: China military parade shows might as Xi Jinping pledges 300,000 cut in army

Finally, a swarm of helicopters powered in from the east towards Tiananmen, the last seven leaving a trail of purple, yellow, red and green smoke in their wakes. Tens of thousands of doves were released into the air, followed by thousands of multi-coloured balloons. It was a surreal and vaguely sinister encore that seemed to have been plucked straight from Banksy’s Dismaland.

Speaking before the parade, Peng Guangqian, a Chinese general, batted away concerns that it was a bellicose move. “Some people say this is an act of muscle flexing, but what is wrong with flexing your muscles?” he told the internet portal Sohu. “Only those with ulterior motives would be threatened by our muscles.”

Addressing the crowds, Xi insisted that for all its might his country would “remain committed to peaceful development”.

“Let us bear in mind the great truth of history. Justice will prevail! Peace will prevail! The people will prevail!” he said. The question now is: will he?

Additional reporting by Luna Lin