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China today sent mixed signals about its military and strategic aims — at once parading tanks, missiles and precision-drilled soldiers through the streets of Beijing even as President Xi Jinping announced there would be 300,000 fewer troops by 2018.


The parade — meant to mark 70 years since Japan's defeat at the end of World War II — comes a day after the Pentagon said it was tracking the movements of five Chinese warships in the Bering Sea near Alaska's Aleutian Islands, what one defense official quoted by 

 described as a "first" for China, although the official said the vessels' movements did not appear threatening.


The Associated Press notes that the parade:

Xi, speaking to an audience from the rostrum overlooking Tiananmen Square before the parade began, said: "China will always uphold the path of peaceful development."

He also said Beijing would reduce its 2.3 million strong military by 13 percent.


"The parade is politically necessary," Bai Nan, 23, an engineering student, was quoted as saying by 

. "It will tell the people that China is now a strong country. And it will also somehow [make] the people respect the government."


"I admire President Xi," he said. "He is capable in everything from anti-corruption to the conflict in the South China Sea. He is a great man."

 notes: "The [Defense] Ministry said the cuts would be mostly complete by the end of 2017. The move is likely part of long-mooted military rationalization plans, which have included spending more money on high-tech weapons for the navy and air force. Troop numbers have been cut three times already since the 1980s."  Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

More than 12,000 precision-drilled soldiers, 500 pieces of military hardware and 200 aircraft filed through Tiananmen Square to mark 70 years since Japan's defeat at the end of World War II.

China flexes muscles with parade, but announces troop cut

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