YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS. President Xi Jinping of China announced on Thursday that he would reduce the country’s military personnel by 300,000, using a parade marking 70 years since the end of World War II to present the People’s Liberation Army as a force for peace and regional stability. Speaking on a platform overlooking Tiananmen Square, he described the cut as a gesture of peace — at a time when China’s neighbors have grown increasingly worried about its territorial claims and military strength.

“I announce that China will reduce military personnel numbers by 300,000,” he said, after declaring that the military was “loyally committed to its sacred duty of defending the security of the motherland and the peaceful life of the people, and loyally committed to the sacred duty of safeguarding world peace.”, “Armenpress” reports China President Xi Jinping’s words referring to The New York Times.

The cut would shrink military forces to two million personnel, the China News Service, a state-run agency, said.

”Today, peace and development have become the prevailing trend, but the world is far from tranquil,” Mr. Xi said in his speech on Thursday. “War is the sword of Damocles that still hangs over mankind. We must learn the lessons of history and dedicate ourselves to peace.”, said the President.

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