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The Hill
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
4 reasons why Trump should reject China's invitation to its military parade
Beijing's Kyodo News reported June 29 that China is planning to invite President Trump to attend a military parade at Tiananmen Square on Sept. 3. The event marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II under the banner of the 'Commemoration of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.' However, behind this seemingly historical commemoration lies a calculated political agenda by Beijing: the distortion of history and an ambition to challenge the free world. Every international visit by a U.S. president carries deep symbolic meaning. This event touches on the core of U.S.-China relations, America's position on historical truth and the international order the U.S. upholds. I therefore earnestly urge President Trump to weigh the following four considerations before making any final decision should Beijing extend an official invitation. First, this parade is not a symbol of peace, but a strategic challenge to U.S.-Led Global Order. The Chinese Communist Party is not holding this parade merely to commemorate a historic victory. It is a deliberate display of military strength, aimed at projecting the narrative of Communist Party superiority and signaling strategic rivalry with the U.S. Since 2015, the party has increasingly normalized large-scale military parades. Domestically, they glorify one-party rule; internationally, they serve as a geopolitical tool to intimidate neighbors. By showcasing hypersonic missiles, fifth-generation fighter jets and long-range nuclear strike capabilities, these parades are clearly targeted at undermining the leadership of the U.S. and the free world. The Xi regime's invitation to Trump is a calculated effort to present China as America's equal on the global stage — conveying a vision of 'co-governance of the world.' Should Trump attend, his presence may be exploited as an implicit endorsement of China's military rise, thereby weakening America's global standing and eroding the confidence of regional allies. As President Ronald Reagan said in his 1981 inaugural address, 'Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.' True strength lies not in weaponry, but in the spirit and conviction of free people. America's greatness stems from its values — not from military displays. Moreover, the essence of a military parade should be to honor those who gave their lives in service. Just last month, Trump presided over the 250th anniversary celebration of the U.S. Army in Washington, fulfilling that solemn duty with dignity and honor. This would not be like that. Second, the Chinese communists have falsified history and stolen the Nationalist government's wartime legacy. There is no historical ambiguity regarding who bore the brunt of Japan's invasion during World War II. Following the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941, China became the principal theater of war in Asia. The Republic of China under Chiang Kai-shek's leadership conducted over 90 percent of the major battles and suffered the bulk of casualties. In contrast, the Communist Party operated largely in guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines, focused more on consolidating its own strength than on resisting Japan strategically. It was the Nationalist government's sacrifices that initially earned the Republic of China a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. Even after its retreat to Taiwan in 1949 following the civil war, the U.N. continued to recognize the Republic of China for nearly two more decades — underscoring its historical legitimacy. After consolidating power, the Chinese Communist Party eliminated many of the generals and troops who had genuinely resisted Japan. Now, Beijing stages military parades as if it had been the actual victor, mocking the true heroes of World War II and engaging in historical theft of valor. If Trump were to attend, it would risk signaling U.S. endorsement of this manipulated narrative, creating the impression that America has accepted the Chinese Communist Party's version of history. Third, this parade dishonors fallen American soldiers from the Korean War. During World War II, the U.S. provided significant aid to China's anti-Japanese efforts. Yet less than five years later, the Chinese communists sent over 1 million troops across the Yalu River to directly engage U.S.-led United Nations forces in the Korean War. The Chinese Communist Party's support for the Kim regime in North Korea was part of its strategy to establish regional dominance in East Asia. More than 36,000 American soldiers died in the Korean War, and over 100,000 were wounded. Even today, many American families continue to grieve the loss of loved ones. The U.S. has always deeply honored its veterans and war dead — building monuments, museums and preserving their legacy in public memory. For a U.S. president to attend this parade would amount to public recognition of the very military that opened fire on American troops. Trump understands the profound sacrifice of military service. He must also be made to understand that attending this parade could deeply wound the families and descendants of the fallen. Finally, sharing a platform with Putin and Xi could send the wrong signal to the free world. Reports suggest that, because Xi attended Russia's 80th anniversary parade for the Great Patriotic War in Moscow this last May, Russian President Vladimir Putin will return the favor by attending China's parade in September. Both men are now seen across the free world as symbols of authoritarian expansionism. Putin has invaded Ukraine and constantly threatens Europe. Xi, meanwhile, has escalated provocations in the South China Sea and around Taiwan, suppressed freedoms in Hong Kong and continues the persecution of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet. His regime that is both militaristic and repressive. Even if Trump does not share their goals, his standing alongside these two dictators at a military parade would be heavily exploited by Chinese and Russian media to depict an image of unity among the three powers. Such an image could damage global perceptions of the U.S. and undermine America's moral standing as the beacon of freedom. It risks shaking allies' trust in the values the U.S. represents. Trump is unquestionably one of the most influential American presidents and global leaders of our time. He has firmly defended American interests and values, taken strong action against the Iranian regime, and shown deep respect for America's military — earning widespread admiration at home and abroad. Yes, diplomacy involves difficult trade-offs. But China's invitation is not a normal diplomatic event. It is a stage crafted by an authoritarian regime to whitewash history and showcase military might — not in the pursuit of peace, but to control the global narrative. By declining to attend, President Trump would send a powerful signal: that America stands for historical truth, democratic values and the shared honor of defending freedom with its allies. Moreover, the Chinese Communist Party is currently under significant pressure from U.S. tariffs and technological sanctions. Its economy is more dependent on global markets than ever. This is not the time to offer Beijing symbolic concessions or legitimacy. A wiser, stronger strategy would be to reserve a presidential visit to China for when Beijing demonstrates genuine reform, keeps its promises, curbs its aggression and halts its theft of American technology and commerce. Only then should a U.S. president visit — with moral authority and strategic advantage. Trump, for the honor of the United States and in the name of historical responsibility, should firmly and respectfully decline this invitation. Vincent C. Chen is a senior executive in Taiwan's information and communications technology industry who serves as an advisory board member for Taiwan Thinktank and Foundation for Future Generations, Taiwan.
RTHK
15-07-2025
- Politics
- RTHK
China, Russia should bolster mutual support: Xi
China, Russia should bolster mutual support: Xi President Xi Jinping meets Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Beijing. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry via Reuters President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday China and Russia should strengthen mutual support in his meeting with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. According to Xinhua News Agency, Xi said "China and Russia should bolster mutual support within multilateral frameworks, safeguard their development and security interests, unite the Global South countries, and push the international order toward a more just and equitable direction". The president added that Beijing and Moscow should support each other in steering the development direction of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and injecting new momentum into the alliance. Xi also urged the SCO to do more to achieve global stability in a meeting with the group's foreign ministers gathered in Beijing for talks. The meeting paved the way for an SCO summit in Tianjin later this year. Xi said China is committed to making the organisation stronger and to safeguarding regional security and stability. On the meeting between Xi and Lavrov, Russia's foreign ministry said in an earlier statement that "a number of issues of bilateral political contacts at the highest and high levels were discussed". They included preparations for President Vladimir Putin's visit to China to join the SCO summit and celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. (Xinhua/AFP)
Borneo Post
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Borneo Post
At the gateway to China's resistance, memories of war echo 88 years on
This photo taken on July 4, 2025 shows Lugou Bridge and the gate of Wanping Town in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin) BEIJING (July 15): Some 20 kilometers southwest of Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, among the skyscrapers, speeding silver bullet trains, and a web of asphalt roads lies a patch of green. Here, time seems to slow down. A smoky-gray wall encloses a fortress-style town. Beyond its western gate, a stone bridge arches over the shimmering Yongding River. Also known as the Marco Polo Bridge after the Venetian traveler, Lugou Bridge had long been celebrated for its moonlit dawns. Over the past week, footsteps echoed beneath the arched gates of Wanping, the old walled town, as waves of visitors came and went — old and young, many from far away, in search of memory, not spectacle. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. It was from this very place that the whole-nation resistance began during that long and arduous struggle. On July 7, 1937, with China mired in poverty and growing foreign encroachment, Japanese troops stationed on the outskirts of Beijing — then called Beiping — demanded entry into Wanping to search for a soldier they claimed went missing during a military drill. Even as negotiations were underway, they opened fire on Chinese troops near the bridge and began shelling the town. Lugou Bridge occupied a key route in and out of Beijing at the time, making it a prime target when Japan launched its full-scale invasion of China. The crisis awakened the Chinese nation. Regional resistance that had emerged since Japan's incursion into northeast China in 1931 soon turned into a nationwide effort. People set aside whatever rifts they had and pointed their guns, blades and anything they could wield outward, fighting uncompromisingly until Japan's surrender in 1945. This photo taken on July 4, 2025 shows shell craters on the wall of Wanping Town in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin) Over the past 88 years, the land has changed beyond recognition — cities have risen, borders have shifted, generations have come and gone. Yet, the Chinese people have preserved the town much as it was, with its shell-scarred walls standing quietly as a witness of the past. Within those walls, they also built a large museum to enshrine items that carry this piece of memory — a reminder of how the nation chose to stand united and fight in the face of an existential crisis. On Tuesday, after nearly eight months of renovation, the museum reopened to the public, free of charge and without the need for an appointment. Among the visitors were veterans — many in their 90s and wheelchair-bound. Some had started out as child sentries or message runners. One had worked as a cook, recalling how he once steamed buns to bring to the troops, only to arrive and find they had all fallen. An Yangdong, a resident of Beijing, attended the exhibition in place of his father, who has passed away. 'The hardship of that war is beyond what we can imagine today,' he said. In the combat during the early stages of the war, according to his father, it was often several of them against a single Japanese soldier. 'They were professionally trained,' his father had said. 'We had barely any military training — one day you might be a student, and the next, you were on the front line.' Chen Qingxiang, a 98-year-old from Cangzhou, north China's Hebei Province, said he fought his first battle on his third day in the army. He and his peers were trying to seize a Japanese military truck. He fired two shots. 'Our weapons were no match for theirs back then,' he said. After the Meiji Restoration in the 19th century, Japan became the first country in Asia to realize industrialization, leading to rapid expansion in its national strength. One photo on display at the museum captures a Japanese military plane brazenly flying over Beijing — a chilling reminder of the disparity in power. A trove of letters exhibited at the site reveals how Chinese people felt during that time. A person documented the atrocities he witnessed following the Japanese occupation of Beijing, pouring his grief over the war and the nation's fate into a letter for future generations. He hid it inside the iconic white pagoda at Miaoying Temple, which was under renovation at the time. In others letters, a member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), writing before her execution, told her child she was dying for their country, a general vowed to fight to the death for the nation, and a young man bid farewell to his mother, heading to the battlefield with no expectation of returning alive. People visit an exhibition themed 'For National Liberation and World Peace' at the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in Beijing, capital of China, July 8, 2025. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong) Gao Hong, former director of the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted that Japan once believed China would collapse easily, based on the assumption that the country was fragmented at that time — the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) had fallen, and warlords were fighting each other. 'But once they pushed in, they realized they had unwittingly become the 'cement' — binding that loose sand into concrete,' said Gao. 'To save their country, people fought against overwhelming odds. Every inch of land was, quite literally, soaked in blood.' When news of Japan's surrender arrived, Chen recalled, joy swept through the villages. Families of those taken to work as forced laborers or miners wept with both joy and sorrow. 'They could not get their loved ones back,' he said, 'but finally, the invaders were driven out.' An's father was wounded during the CPC-led Hundred-Regiment Campaign in 1940, an injury that left him disabled for the rest of his life. 'Those who love war will surely perish, but those who forget how to fight will face danger,' he said. Guan Yuhan, a sophomore at Capital Normal University and a volunteer guide at the museum, said the exhibition presents historical facts to the world — a task that matters all the more at a time when unilateralism, economic coercion and hegemonic thinking are on the rise. 'Just as we're trained to always guide audiences forward,' she said, 'the items on display remind us of the brutality of war — and how hard it could be to win peace. We must stay alert.' In recent years, politicians in some countries have sought to twist history for political gain. Observers have reported a troubling trend: growing attempts to whitewash Nazism, glorify Nazi collaborators, and revive the toxic legacies of racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance. Until this day, some right-wing politicians in Japan still refuse to renounce the country's militaristic past, and even question or deny the outcomes of World War II. 'Many of the modern and vibrant cities the world sees in China today, such as Shanghai and Chongqing, were rebuilt from the rubble left by Japanese bombings and shelling,' said He Husheng, a professor of CPC history at Renmin University of China. 'China, now the world's second-largest economy, truly rose from scratch.' Throughout the war from 1931 to 1945, more than 35 million Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed or wounded. China suffered direct economic losses of over 100 billion U.S. dollars and indirect losses exceeding 500 billion, calculated in terms of 1937 levels. 'The country's fortitude and tenacity, however, tied down a large portion of Japanese forces, disrupted Tokyo's strategic plans, and eased pressure on Allied fronts in Europe and across Asia,' said He. 'This proved decisive in the defeat of Japanese fascism.' Today, life in Wanping moves at a slow and peaceful pace. Restaurant owners warmly invite passersby to stop for a drink or a bite. On the Lugou Bridge, children run and laugh, playing among the stone lions that line the centuries-old structure. To mark the anniversary of the 1937 event here, netizens shared homemade videos on social media. In one, the screen was split: one half showed a baby sitting helplessly amid the debris in Shanghai, crying after his parents were killed in a Japanese bombing in 1937; the other half showed children of today resting atop the deck of a naval ship. The video also included additional footage of China's aircraft carriers. 'Eighty-eight years after the July 7th Incident,' a comment read, 'I doubt anyone dares to touch our children now.' – Xinhua China historical site resistance war
Time of India
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
SCO Foreign Ministers meeting will make political preparations for summit: China
The meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Chinese city of Tianjin on Tuesday will make political preparations for the summit of the 10-member bloc to be held at the end of August, an official here said on Monday. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Ministers of the other SCO member states have arrived in Beijing on Monday to attend a conclave of the grouping. China, which is the rotating chair of the SCO, said the Council of Foreign Ministers meeting aims to make political preparations for the summit of the organisation. The summit will be held in Tianjin this fall, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a media briefing here. The foreign ministers will exchange views on cooperation in various fields of the SCO and major international and regional issues and sign a series of resolutions and documents, Lin said. Russian news agency Tass quoted Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying that the summit is set to be held in Tianjin between August 30 and September 1. Live Events China has announced plans to hold a massive military parade in Beijing on September 3 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. The SCO comprises 10 member states, including China, Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus.
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Business Standard
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
SCO foreign ministers' meet to lay political groundwork for summit: China
The meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Chinese city of Tianjin on Tuesday will make political preparations for the summit of the 10-member bloc to be held at the end of August, an official here said on Monday. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Ministers of the other SCO member states have arrived in Beijing on Monday to attend a conclave of the grouping. China, which is the rotating chair of the SCO, said the Council of Foreign Ministers meeting aims to make political preparations for the summit of the organisation. The summit will be held in Tianjin this fall, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a media briefing here. The foreign ministers will exchange views on cooperation in various fields of the SCO and major international and regional issues and sign a series of resolutions and documents, Lin said. Russian news agency Tass quoted Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying that the summit is set to be held in Tianjin between August 30 and September 1. China has announced plans to hold a massive military parade in Beijing on September 3 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. The SCO comprises 10 member states, including China, Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
