Opinion | Impossible to separate sport and politics as Hong Kong’s football team rained on Xi’s parade
It was so nearly the perfect day for China and Xi Jinping - until Hong Kong spoiled the party
Twelve thousand troops, 200 aircraft, 500 military vehicles, 70,000 doves and balloons: the numbers around China’s ‘victory over Japan’ parade were impressive. It should have been a perfect day for president Xi Jinping as he showed off his nation’s might.
But shortly after the last DF-21D ‘carrier killer’ missile was wheeled out of Tiananmen Square, the last J-15 fighter jet was put back in the hangar and the last white dove of peace was thrown in a hutong hotpot, there was a reminder that overwhelming numbers do not always equal easy victory.
Xi is a huge soccer fan. Though presumably too busy entertaining the world’s top leaders (minus EU, US), to watch China vs Hong Kong after the parade, surely aides updated him: “Hang on Vladimir, I can’t wait to hear about the time you choked a Kamchatka brown bear to death, but I’m getting a message … Still 0-0?! We hit the crossbar AGAIN?! … that’s it, send in the Caihong-5 drones.”