China has invited Russian troops to march in a parade in Beijing in September to commemorate the end of World War II, the Chinese Ministry of Defense said yesterday, a move likely to further put off Western leaders from attending.
China has been coy about which nations it plans to invite to the parade, but said it would likely invite representatives from the Western allies who fought with China during the war.
However, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) could be left standing with few top Western officials due to Western governments concerns over a range of issues, including the expected presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, diplomats said.
Photo: Reuters
Xi on Saturday attended a parade in Moscow to mark 70 years since the end of the war in Europe.
A Chinese Ministry of Defense statement said that Chinese Central Military Commission deputy chairman Fan Changlong (范長龍) told Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu that China “warmly welcomes Russian military leaders and army formations” to take part in the September events in Beijing.
Xi’s visit to Russia and appearance at the Moscow commemorations “pushed the China-Russia all-round strategic partnership relationship to a new level,” Fan added, according to the statement.
Western leaders boycotted the Moscow parade over Russia’s role in the Ukraine crisis.
The Beijing parade, which is likely see troops marching through Tiananmen Square, is to be Xi’s first since he took over as Chinese Communist Party leader and military chief in late 2012 and as state president in early 2013.
Sino-Japan relations have long been poisoned by what China sees as Japan’s failure to atone for its occupation of parts of the nation before and during the war, and Beijing rarely misses an opportunity to remind its people and the world of this.
Last month, US President Barack Obama’s top Asia adviser, Evan Medeiros, said that he had questions about whether a large military parade would really send a signal of reconciliation or promote healing, drawing a rebuke from China.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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