China's V-Day Over Japan 70 Years

[SaintessHeart]

And they show this slick new video of their stuff

Taking out the CBG. Lots of DF-15Bs. Amphibious landing. Claiming they want peace, but they have to go to war (with Japan).

Just how bad is the state of their economy to set up this kind of distraction?

[Draco Spirit]

Can't read the website to proper gauge it's propaganda level, but in all honesty and fairness we Brits celebrate our victory over the Germans all the time.

[aldw]

This was something that was way overdue, both for the vets of that conflict for recognition of their services, and as a reminder of what happens when a country is weak. That's why for China showing both the military past and the present are no less important as reminders that the price of peace, security and freedom is and always eternal vigilance, despite what the naysayers may spout.

[KiraYamatoFan]

Funny, I haven't seen the US parading their veteran Marines for this occasion considering they did a hell lot more than anybody else to get that victory during WW2. Dropping a wreath of flowers to remember the dead would be a lot more appropriate instead of this crap.

[LeoXiao]

It's a good way for Xi Jinping to set up a nice victory parade for himself and to show the Party that he is very much in charge. WW2 is likely the least of things on his mind.

[Marcus H.]

Come to think of it, Xi has been fighting corruption within the Party, and Leo might as well be right about the reason behind the victory parade. It's also a nice morale boost for the countrymen who's losing money in the volatile stocks situation in China.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by LeoXiao

It's a good way for Xi Jinping to set up a nice victory parade for himself and to show the Party that he is very much in charge. WW2 is likely the least of things on his mind.

Sorry I have been living under a rock for the past few months, so enlighten me.

Didn't he iron out most of the issues killing off his rivals with his "anti-corruption" campaign?

[Kakurin]

Originally Posted by KiraYamatoFan

they did a hell lot more than anybody else to get that victory during WW2

Tell that the 10 million Soviet soldiers killed while fighting the Germans.

[LeoXiao]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

Come to think of it, Xi has been fighting corruption within the Party, and Leo might as well be right about the reason behind the victory parade. It's also a nice morale boost for the countrymen who's losing money in the volatile stocks situation in China.

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Sorry I have been living under a rock for the past few months, so enlighten me.

Didn't he iron out most of the issues killing off his rivals with his "anti-corruption" campaign?

It's kind of unusual for the Chinese to go full Russian and put on a giant show of military force to celebrate the WW2 victory. I suspect it has not been a tradition because WW2 wasn't really the PRC's war, so the CCP prefers to hold such events on dates like October 1.

But this time around, Xi Jinping wants to show that he has gotten not just the Party but more importantly the military under his thumb. The 70th anniversary of the PRC is too far away (2019), so better to use VJ-Day.

Also interesting is that Xi's main rival, Jiang Zemin, showed up and featured prominently next to Xi. My guess is that Xi decided to bring out the old fossil and parade him around too.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Kakurin-san

Tell that the 10 million Soviet soldiers killed while fighting the Germans.

How much did the Chinese lose fighting the Japanese, as compared to fighting amongst themselves?

Originally Posted by LeoXiao

It's kind of unusual for the Chinese to go full Russian and put on a giant show of military force to celebrate the WW2 victory. I suspect it has not been a tradition because WW2 wasn't really the PRC's war, so the CCP prefers to hold such events on dates like October 1.

But this time around, Xi Jinping wants to show that he has gotten not just the Party but more importantly the military under his thumb. The 70th anniversary of the PRC is too far away (2019), so better to use VJ-Day.

Also interesting is that Xi's main rival, Jiang Zemin, showed up and featured prominently next to Xi. My guess is that Xi decided to bring out the old fossil and parade him around too.

My closest guess would be for the economy - the devaluation of the RMB would have a huge impact on public debt and they know it, so they are doing something to distract the general population for it.

However that sounds too simple and too academic. There has to be something deeper than their motivations.

[Kakurin]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

How much did the Chinese lose fighting the Japanese, as compared to fighting amongst themselves?

At least 3-4 million, numbers hard to establish due to the chaos and the lack of a reliable administration. The infighting between Communists and Nationalists during the war was insignificant compared to the damages Japan did. In terms of civilian deaths from 1937 through 1945 probably more than 20 million. It's certainly not something to laugh about.

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

My closest guess would be for the economy - the devaluation of the RMB would have a huge impact on public debt and they know it, so they are doing something to distract the general population for it.

However that sounds too simple and too academic. There has to be something deeper than their motivations.

Yes it is too simple, especially since the parade has been planned far longer than the current economic downturn.

[LeoXiao]

Another motivation for making such a big show of the WW2 victory I can think of would be to gain international respect. Putin and other leaders have more reason to show up to a parade celebrating the death of fascism than the founding the PRC.

[KiraYamatoFan]

Originally Posted by Kakurin-san

Tell that the 10 million Soviet soldiers killed while fighting the Germans.

Not on this particular front though.

Originally Posted by LeoXiao

Another motivation for making such a big show of the WW2 victory I can think of would be to gain international respect. Putin and other leaders have more reason to show up to a parade celebrating the death of fascism than the founding the PRC.

I'm not sure where one can gain international respect with that. People have laughed about North Korea countless times for all the parades they make, especially the waste of diesel going with such. In the US, there is nothing such although I would once have thought the most powerful army on earth would have a right to have their own parade.

[Kakurin]

Originally Posted by KiraYamatoFan

Not on this particular front though.

Even so it is pretty far-fetched to belittle the efforts by the common Chinese people who had to fight the Japanese with little more than third-world equipment by saying the Americans "did a hell lot more". I'm sure the troops Chiang Kai-shek sacrificed at Shanghai in a vain attempt to gain the world's (and especially US and British) attention in 1937 are bowing their heads to their American saviours. The Americans contributed a lot because they could do more with their gigantic potential. Meanwhile the pre-industrial Chinese had to hold out alone for over four years before the Japanese occupation of French Indochina finally convinced the Americans that the Japanese were becoming a threat to American interests in East Asia.

[Kyero Fox]

This is the reason the US needs to exist and remain in top power.

[Kakurin]

Aha, and why exactly? Your model boy USA has caused far more damage to international stability in the last years and decades with its irresponsible actions in the Middle East, than your bad boy China.

[aldw]

Originally Posted by Kakurin-san

Aha, and why exactly? Your model boy USA has caused far more damage to international stability in the last years and decades with its irresponsible actions in the Middle East, than your bad boy China.

It's not only recently for that matter too, if one ever reads Smedley Butler's book "War is a Racket" and Mark Twain's writings on the Philippine Insurrection upon others for example, the list of crap the US has pulled against other countries dating back even before WWI shows how far the US will go to maximize gains at the expense of others.

[MrTerrorist]

This was release together for the 70th anniversary.

[SaintessHeart]

Think this may be the answer.

China is desperate. For recognition.

[Jazzrat]

You guys do realized the state of the current middle east, the advent of WW1 and WW2 was very much a byproduct of western imperialism right? Then again, Japan was an asshole as well back in the imperialism era and the rape of nanking is still too fresh in the collective social memory.

As for China, there's still a long way to go for it's military. Their spending is a mere fraction of the US in terms of percentage of their capita GDP. Not forgetting military institution wise, it's nowhere near the level of experience that other major powers have. It's going to take them awhile longer and better experience than fighting rioters.

Granted, the US economy have been battered by their last two wars. The UK is not the superpower it once was during the world wars. It's going to be pretty crazy if China decided to mobilize. Japan is probably going to be banker for the western power if that ever happens.