Africa Focus: Kenyan analysts laud China's WWII victory parade

Kenya's international relations experts on Friday lauded China's Victory Parade, terming it a befitting commemoration of the country's triumph against fascist aggression during the Second World War (WWII).

The political analysts noted that Beijing suffered immensely during the WWII by losing many citizens and setting back the nation in terms of development, thus deserves to celebrate its victory.

"The celebrations are marking the victory of human determination over adversity. It is a demonstration that we can always overcome and the world can look to China for appropriate examples," said Levi Obonyo, a senior lecturer at Daystar University and a communication consultant.

The event held on Thursday in Beijing was attended by heads of state and foreign troops from 17 countries.

"It is noteworthy that it was China which engaged the Japanese first. The Victory Parade is a public projection of China's hard power capacity, in addition to its soft power approach to global politics and Beijing's 'peaceful rise'," said Peter Kagwanja, political scientist and CEO of Africa Policy Institute.

Munene Macharia, an International Relations lecturer at United States International University, said the parade was a way for China to ascertain its interests and give Chinese people a sense of direction.

"It promoted a sense of patriotism among the Chinese people. It assured the Chinese people that they are safe and they can defend themselves from external aggression," he said.

Wachira Wang'ombe, Kenya's former President Mwai Kibaki's political consultant, said the celebrations are an important part not only of China but the world's history.

"The 70th anniversary of the triumph in WWII is a great milestone that is worth being celebrated but more importantly, it reminds people of what happened and that war is expensive. Most people in the world currently do not know much about the WWII, thus they help to tell them the history," he noted.

The analysts were unanimous that China played a great role in ending the war that ran from 1939 to 1945.

"China refused to surrender and it was to her credit that the Japanese were held out for long and eventually the war became truly global. It is truly remarkable that China fought with such limited equipment and still held the Japanese back," said Obonyo.

The total victory and great triumph achieved by the Chinese people after the World War II re-established China as a major force in the world, observed Michael Munyao, the chairman of China Africa Friendship Association, Kenyan chapter.

In the spirit of the celebrations, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that the country will cut troops by 300,000. The analysts noted that a lean military will be able to promote China's interests.

"By having a smaller force, China will be able to better equip its troops with the most modern equipment," said Mancharia.

"China will now use the money that was spent on military on other issues like education and technology, both in and out of the country. Africa is likely to be one of the biggest beneficiaries to this spending as China spreads its activities in the region," said Wang'ombe.

The cut in military personnel, according to Munyao, exhibits Beijing's efforts in modernizing its armed forces.

"They are doing this for another time since 1980s. It is a way of promoting peace by telling the other nations that look, we are not going to war again and therefore we are toning down by reducing the number of troops. China is set to pursue friendly relations with all other Countries and uphold peace to mankind," he said.

China, as the analysts noted, can further play a big role in promoting world peace by contributing troops for UN peace keeping.

"China is not like the other big nations who like to impose their will on smaller nations. China promotes world peace by ensuring all engagements with other nations are based on win-win partnership and mutual respect regardless of the size of the country," said Mancharia.

Ambassador Ochieng Adala, the Deputy Director/Acting executive Director at Africa Peace Forum (APFO), a conflict resolution think-tank, expects China to play a bigger crucial role in UN peacekeeping operations, particularly in Africa.

Kagwanja, however, noted that with the cut in troops, China is pursuing a two-track strategy consisting of peace and development.

"This new approach is a viable alternative to the old hard power, West-centric world. Not surprisingly, this soft power approach is greatly appealing to nations in developing parts of the world such as Africa," Adala told Xinhua.

"Facing the future, the peace-development nexus will enable China to link development cooperation with its growing contribution to global peace processes and UN peacekeeping mission, especially in Africa," he added. Endit