A lighter but sharper force for peace

In his opening remarks at the parade, held in Beijing on Sept 3 to mark the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45), President Xi Jinping announced that China would reduce the its military personnel by 300,000 troops, which, along with the parade, made headlines worldwide.

There could be no better move toward peace than the announcement of a troop cut on such an occasion. Thanks to the displays in the parade, viewers are convinced of China's ability to protect its people. And the troop reduction has assured them of China's firm determination to defend peace and counter any challenge to it.

More importantly, the troop cut gives lie to the "China threat" theory, because it reduces the already low population to military ratio of China - or the number of military personnel to every 100,000 Chinese citizens. China's current population is 1.37 billion and its military is 2.3 million strong, which means for every 100,000 Chinese citizens, there are 168 military personnel.