‘China’ rising: The Parade
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Think of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Sept. 3 military parade, officially “Commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War,” as a tabula rasa, a blank screen upon which observers can project their PRC-related hopes, fears, anxieties, and fantasies. And, for Xi Jinping, to illustrate his “China Dream.”
In my opinion, a central purpose of the parade was to elevate and celebrate Xi Jinping as a key figure in 21st century China. The parade recapitulated Deng Xiaoping’s parade on the 35thanniversary of the founding of the PRC in 1984. Xi, like Deng, rode down Chang An Avenue by himself with the gaze of the world upon him, so on and so forth. The CCP, by the way, had the same fear of snipers back then. I was there in ‘84, ventured out on a balcony for a better look, and was promptly and firmly instructed to get back inside.
As to what doctrine Xi was promoting, the parade was not an “anti-Japan” parade. Actually, it was an “anti-United States” parade.
The ostensible reason for the display of the PRC’s military might was that the United States has turned its back on the Potsdam dispensation, abandoned the “honest broker” “Pacific peacekeeper” role it claimed after World War II, and has instead become an overtly destabilizing force in the region, encouraging Japan to expand its military role, egging on the Philippines & Vietnam, etc. The PRC, therefore, not only has to look out for itself; it’s got to look out for the whole East Asian region to keep US adventurism in check.
http://atimes.com/2015/09/china-rising-the-parade/