Chinese Military Parade Sets Spin Machine Into Overdrive
- Biggest propaganda event since 2008 Beijing Olympics
- Roads, parks, airport to close in unprecedented restrictions
China Marks WWII Defeat and Barclays Hacks Its Systems
China’s image makers are taking unprecedented measures to make sure a volatile stock market and a deadly blast in Tianjin don’t distract from President Xi Jinping’s message of national unity surrounding a military parade on Thursday.
Xi’s government finds itself beset with challenges as the parade nears, including faltering economic growth, questions about safety regulation after the Tianjin blast that killed at least 158 people, and concerns about the outlook for the stock market, whose plunge wiped out $5 trillion in global stock value. That trouble compares to Beijing’s last major international event, the 2008 Summer Olympics, when China was riding high as western economies reeled from the international financial crisis.