China marks 70th V-Day anniversary with spectacular parade

… from  Russia Today,  Moscow

[ Editor’s Note:  A country of over 1.3 billion was on parade today. Fortunately these events are much less expensive that the Olympics, which are vastly overproduced, when these war ending anniversaries are much more important… to some of us anyway.

While China was putting its military power on display, primarily defensive as most militaries in Eurasia are, President Xi Jinping announced a 300,000 man reduction in the army, a not imprudent move, as infantry will not determine the winners of future wars, but technology.

Western leaders came off looking like heels today, with so many Western leaders stiffing the Chinese in not attending. They dishonored their own WWII dead and those living by this cheap political snub, which is now carved in history. Shame on them all.

It is so sad to see how the West has evolved such low class leadership, and even worse for being democratic countries. It shows we have a serious problem that needs attending, but how?

The Japanese are on a roll with snubs with their evolving aggressive geopolitical moves, after having descended to publicly being a US pawn in the region. No one in China regretted Japan’s PM Abe not showing up today as the figurehead for the country who has claimed that the Rape of Nanking was a racist Western smear against the yellow man… and that it never happened. Yet “Nanking Denial” has never joined “the other one”, which has quite openly declared it wants no company.

I had hoped that we could get through the day with no more bombings in China. It seems there were no chemical factories along the parade route. The Chinese government has yet to call us on our nuclear confirmation of the first one, but they did have a parade to put on I guess.

I was surprised to learn in the equipment displayed that China claims to have the only ballistic ship missiles that can hit moving targets, the carrier killers… if it can get through the defenses. We shall hope we never get to learn that it works… Jim W. Dean ]

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– First published  …  September 03,  2015 –

Celebrating the 70th anniversary of Japan’s capitulation in WWII, China has showcased hundreds of its newest military hardware in a remarkable parade which saw some 12,000 troops marching across Tiananmen Square in front of dozens of world leaders.

Some 30 foreign leaders attended the memorial event, representing countries from Russia and Belarus, to Egypt, South Korea and Venezuela. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also attended the parade, while the majority of “high-profile” Western leaders have passed on the event.

Over 200 Chinese aircraft, including fighter jets, bombers and dozens of helicopters, zoomed above the fascinated crowd.China has rolled out seven types of missiles on to Tiananmen Square, including four ballistic nuclear missiles.

Among them was the Dong Feng-21D anti-aircraft-carrier medium-range nuclear missile (‘Carrier-Killer’), which currently is the world’s only ballistic missile capable of engaging a moving target out at sea.

Beijing also demonstrated the Dong Feng-26 nuclear missile, a medium-range ballistic projectile prohibited in Russia and the US because of a bilateral agreement. This intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) was dubbed the “Guam killer” because it can reach the US Pacific Ocean base.

The PLA also presented its newest intercontinental strategic ballistic missiles, the DF-5 with a range of 12,000 kilometers and the DF-31A – range 8,000 kilometers.

During an almost two-hour-long People’s Liberation Army (PLA) parade, several hundred military vehicles of around 40 different types rolled across the square. The whole event was accompanied by an army orchestra and a 2,400-strong massed choir that sang some 30 songs.

Chinese troops were not marching alone on the commemorative date: They were joined by their fellow soldiers from Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Mongolia, Pakistan, Serbia, Tajikistan and Russia.

Additionally, for the first time in the history of Chinese parades, female soldiers marched on Tiananmen Square.

Addressing the nation and guests prior to the show, President Xi Jinping reaffirmed China’s commitment to the path of peace.

“Prejudice and discrimination, hatred and war can only cause disaster and pain,” Xi said, announcing plans to reduce the number of the country’s troops by 300,000, some 13 percent of the current 2.3-million strong PLA, as part of the country’s long-term military reform.

“China will always uphold the path of peaceful development,” Xi said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who took part in the celebratory events in Beijing on Thursday, said that the lessons of World War II should be remembered to minimize military conflicts around the world.

During a meeting with Xi, he agreed with his counterpart that Russia and China are “united by a strategic relationship and, as we say, a comprehensive partnership,” adding “what is also important is the way we perceive historical problems.”

Russia and China should not forget “the cruel actions of invaders on the temporarily occupied territories, which resulted in innumerable victims.”

“But we must remember this to make sure that nothing like this happens again in the future. I listened carefully to your speech at the parade, I believe that was the main message of your speech addressed to the people of China and the peoples of the entire world, namely: everything must be done to prevent large-scale military conflicts in the future and to minimize military conflicts in general,” Putin said.

At the meeting, Putin confirmed that large bilateral projects will be implemented despite “economic turbulence in Russia and China.”

“During bilateral meetings today, we exchanged opinions, and we have full confidence that we will move forward consistently, develop our relations, implement our plans, including large projects which will definitely have a positive effect on the development of the Russian and Chinese economies, and the global economy as a whole,” he said.

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Jim Davis

Jim Davis is the son of USMC MGySgt. Lesley Davis (Ret.) who passed away on April 24, 2006, from ALS caused by Agent Orange. His dad’s mission before he passed on was to ensure all veterans, spouses, children, and widows all received the benefits, medical care and attention, and proper facilities from the VA.

Because of the promise made to his dad to carry on the mission, in May 2006 Davis began as a one-man show sending out 535 letters every single week to all members of Congress requesting and politely demanding the fulfill their promises made over the past decades to care for life those who wore the uniform and their families.

Veterans-For-Change was born in August 2006 with a very small membership of 25 people composed of veterans, spouses, widows, family members, and friends and to date continues to grow.