Beijing’s Victory Day parade streamed live in Taiwan, stirring mixed reactions
Viewers either admired the weapons or derided the mainland, while politicians were divided on what to call the commemorations
Highlights of China’s military parade marking the 80th anniversary of Japan’s WWII surrender
The ruling, independence-leaning DPP condemned Wednesday’s spectacle in Tiananmen Square as an exhibition of Communist Party ambition rather than a commemoration of peace.
In a social media post, the DPP’s China affairs department said the second world war should have taught humanity the lessons of “opposing aggression” and “pursuing peace”, yet Beijing chose instead to showcase the troops and weapons it now used to intimidate its neighbours.
The department accused Beijing of militarism “taken to the extreme” and warned that repeated drills by the People’s Liberation Army in the Taiwan Strait, South China Sea and East China Sea already posed a serious threat to regional security.
It also denounced Beijing’s narrative – including its claim to have been the “pillar” of anti-Japanese resistance and efforts to promote a “shared 14-year war of resistance” – as a distortion of history designed to co-opt Taiwanese voices.