China announces massive troop cuts at WWII anniversary
![Xi stressed that China will remain committed to peaceful development and will never seek hegemony or expansion [Reuters/Damir Sagolj]](http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2015/9/3/2122f01c3fb2450c81d203fddaae3da8_18.jpg)
Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to cut 300,000 troops from its army, as the country commemorates the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The announcement at the start of a massive parade in Beijing on Thursday brings the armed forces' headcount down to about 2 million, still making it the world's largest standing military.
Xi gave no specific reason for the reduction, but bracketed his announcement with assertions of the Peoples Liberation Army's mission to protect China and "uphold the sacred task of ensuring world peace".
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