Beijing is preparing for the great military parade

The scene takes place in the heart of Beijing for a great demonstration of power and military power which was choreographed by President Xi Jinping.

Eight huge Chinese flags float and flank the portrait of Mao Zedong, the founder of Communist China, which is above the Porte de la Paix Célests overlooking Tiananmen square, one of the largest public places in the world.

You will find below rows of seats reserved for 26 foreign heads of state, notably the Vladimir Putin of Russia and Kim Jong one of North Korea, whose attendance is a diplomatic victory for XI.

On the other side of the road, near the great people of the people, two huge floral arrangements commemorating the end of the Second World War rise alongside seats for around 50,000 guests.

On the last day of preparations – Monday – Chang’an avenue, the multi -vow route that crosses the place was again open to the public. The drivers and cyclists kept their phones in the air by doing their best to capture the scene.

In appearance, the parade marks 80 years of Japanese surrender in the war and the victory of China against an occupying force. But it is much more than that for President XI.

It’s a big week for him, with a lot of first. He prompted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit China this weekend for the first time in seven years, restarting a key economic and strategic relationship.

More than 20 world leaders have attended the Shanghai cooperation organization (SCO), which has just concluded – its greatest gathering ever made.

And a North Korean chief will attend a Chinese military parade for the first time since 1959.

The Chinese chief has his moment under the spotlight.

The Summit of the OCS in Tianjin allowed him to project power and to offer a vision of a new world order which, according to him, to the United States. Now attention turns to the Beijing parade, which will present the growing capacity of his country to compete with the United States in any conflict.

The leaders of Iran, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mongolia, Indonesia, Zimbabwe and the countries of Central Asia will witness the training of precise troops and will have an overview of what the authorities say will be new hypersonic weapons and unmanned underwater drones. The only Western leaders on the guest list come from Serbia and Slovakia.

Kim Jong One is a surprise addition – his attendance was only announced at the end of last week – and his armored train and his usual procession flanked by bodyguards will add to the show.

XI should have Kim and Putin by his side, which will inevitably lead the headlines or the analysts describing them as “the axis of upheavals”.

Although the parade is a demonstration of the force of China and the influence of Xi as a world leader, there is also a clear national message: pride and patriotism.

China describes the Second World War as the “popular war of resistance against Japanese aggression”, although a large part of the resistance does not come from the Communist Party, but nationalists who later lost the civil war against Mao and its forces, and were largely rubbed by national memory.

From the perspective of the birthday, several films have been published representing this struggle, some of which were successes at the box office. State Media has published reports to “promote a good vision of the history of the Second World War”.

The campaign caused a little friction with Japan. Last week, Beijing filed a demonstration with Tokyo on information that Japan asked European and Asian governments not to attend the parade.

All this seems to be part of a rallying cry for the nation, because China fights against a slow economy, unemployment of young people and the fall in housing prices. The demand is low and the most recent data suggest that Trump’s prices are reaching factory production. And the “anti-corruption” reader continues, with reports of senior officials investigated.

There is dissatisfaction, even a disillusionment, especially among young people and it has infiltrated, even on the closely controlled Chinese Internet.

The fear that this could spread in the real world is partly what has led extra-associated preparations, which have become a demonstration of the party’s control of a house in the capital to more than 21 million people. The city has become silent while the parade is getting closer.

Airport safety scanners have been installed in certain office entries. All drones are prohibited and international journalists have been visited at home, some on several occasions, to make sure they receive the message.

The guards were stationed 24 hours a day at the entrances to viaducts and bridges to prevent any protest, some of which are in army uniforms.

Three years ago, when the party chose XI as leader for a third historic term, a demonstrator deployed a banner on a large road bridge criticizing XI and calling for its evidence. He was taken instantly and we still don’t know what happened to him.

But this is a time when the party does not want to relive.

Communist party officials spent months planning and preparing their first military parade in six years. More than 200,000 flags were installed in the capital.

Other floral arrangements depicting the fight against China against Japan are proudly seated on roadside and important roundabouts. There is even a new “Lightcape” city to brighten up buildings in the business district.

The managers of the parade command office said that “the global principle … is to avoid disturbing the public as much as possible”.

But for those who live in Beijing, the parade overturned life.

You could hear tanks to go down the streets during weekly night rehearsals and the sounds of walking echo far beyond the parade road.

People living near Chang’an Avenue, who lead to Tiananmen Square, were invited to stay outside their balconies to make sure that rehearsals could be held in secret.

Schools, companies and hotels along the parade course will be closed for the next two days. There are several diversion of roads and closings of metro lines, which have effectively paralyzed transport in and outside the city center.

Even get a shared city bike, often the best way to get around Beijing, can now be embarrassing. Usually there are hundreds of them aligned outside the metro stations and along the sidewalks. But recently, city workers picked them up to remove them more from the parade route. Trying to hire the strange left behind is not an option: the bike will not move.

It has been reported in the past that China has used its air army to make sure there is a blue sky for the parade. The plane can handle the times to trigger the rain by swarming clouds one or two days in advance, to make sure it is clear afterwards.

It is difficult to know if this tactic has been used this year, but forecastists predict a clear sky. Beijing officials take no chance of President XI’s big day.