Photos of military parade shown in Xi’s New Year speech

Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed the need to address the situation in Hong Kong in his New Year’s address but did not make comments on the friction between the U.S. and China. But China indirectly expressed its dissatisfaction with the pressure campaigns by the U.S. by putting up two photos of its military parade in last October, where it showed off cutting-edge weapons targeting the U.S., in Xi’s office. Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe put an emphasis on the revision of Japan’s Constitution once again in his New Year’s statement.

In his New Year’s speech televised on Chinese state-run TV network China Central Television (CCTV) on Dec. 31, Chinese President Xi did not make tough remarks on the U.S., drawing a contrast to last year’s New Year speech, where he used slogans such as “self-rehabilitation,” “protection of national sovereignty and security,” and “make desperate efforts and every endeavor.”

Xi indirectly sent a message to the U.S. through the 18 photos in his office, where he made his New Year’s speech. The People’s Daily, an official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, ran an article titled, “Revealing the secrets of the photos in President Xi’s office” and said there were three more photos in Xi’s office this year than last year and 11 of them have never been made public.


Wan-Jun Yun zeitung@donga.com