On 3 September 2015, H.E. Ambassador Liu Xiaoming wasinvited to a live interview with BBC Newsnight hosted by RobertPeston. Ambassador Liu elaborated on the significance of theCommemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the Victory of theChinese People's War of Resistance Against JapaneseAggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, and answeredquestions about China's military expenditure and China'seconomy. The full text is as follows:

　　2015年9月3日，驻英国大使刘晓明在英国BBC强档品牌节目“新闻之夜”(Newsnight)演播室接受该节目主持人罗伯特·佩斯顿(Robert Peston)直播专访，谈中国人民抗日战争暨世界反法西斯战争胜利70周年纪念活动的重要意义，并回答有关中国军费和经济形势等提问。专访实录如下：

　　Peston: Joining me now is the Chinese Ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming. Ambassador, I thinkof China as this fast modernizing country, enriching country. But we've seen this extraordinarymilitary display today, which takes some of us back to the era of Mao. Is this China again sendinga sort of message to the world that, you know, you are fierce and dangerous?

　　佩斯顿：我们今天邀请到中国驻英国大使刘晓明先生。大使先生，当我想到中国时，我想到一个国土辽阔、正迈向现代化、逐渐富裕的国家。但我们今天看到的令人震撼的阅兵场面，会使有些人觉得中国又回到了“毛泽东时代”。中国是否再次向世界发出这样一个信息，即中国是一个危险且令人生畏的国家?

　　Ambassador Liu: I think the impression you had is not correct. In fact, the message is loud andclear, that is peace. Peace was hard won and peace should be cherished and maintained. AndChina will make its due contribution to maintaining world peace and regional stability. You know,in his ten minutes of speech, President Xi Jinping used the word "peace" for 18 times. So, that'sthe message.

　　刘大使：我认为你得出的印象是错误的。事实上，中国发出的信息响亮而明确，这就是和平。和平来之不易，和平应当珍爱，和平应当维护。中国将为维护世界和平和地区稳定做出自己的贡献。主席在10多分钟的讲话中，18次提到和平。这就是中国发出的信息。

　　Peston: So these gunboats that sailed off the coast of Alaska when President Obama was theretoday, was that just a sort of accident?

　　佩斯顿：今天，美国总统奥巴马访问阿拉斯加时，几艘中国军舰正好出现在靠近阿拉斯加的公海上。这是巧合吗?

　　Ambassador Liu: I think we are talking about this commemoration first, then I'll come back tothis naval fleet. When I say peace was hard won, not many people, especially in the West realizehow much sacrifice China has made for the war against Japanese aggression. In fact the war, theSecond World War, started in China, started earliest, lasted longest, and China suffered the largestcasualties. We pay the price of 35 million casualties, and that is the most among all the sufferingsof the world in Second World War. It's about one third of the casualties of the world. And soChinese people see this 70th anniversary as a big occasion for us to celebrate the victory, to honorthe fallen soldiers who, you know, sacrificed for their motherland.

　　刘大使：我想，我们还是先谈谈今天的纪念大会，之后我再回到你的问题。我说和平来之不易，在西方很少人了解中国人民为抗日战争做出了多大牺牲。事实上，第二次世界大战发端于中国。中国人民抗日战争开始时间最早、持续时间最长、伤亡人数最多。中国军民伤亡3500万人，占世界各国伤亡总人数约三分之一，是二战中伤亡人数最多的国家。因此中国人民把抗日战争和世界反法西斯战争胜利70周年视为一个庆祝胜利、缅怀先烈的重要时刻

　　Peston: But this peace require defend spending to go up this extraordinary way, 12% last year, 10% this year? Enormous money you're spending.

　　佩斯顿：但和平需要中国军费保持如此之快的速度增长吗?去年12%，今年10%。这是一笔巨大的开支。

　　Ambassador Liu: You have to remember that China is a large country. China, you know, in termof territory, it's about 40 times of UK. In terms of population, it's about 20 times. Yet in terms ofper capita military expenditure, China is only 1/22 of the United States, and 1/9 of Britain. Andalso in terms of proportion of expenditure with regard to GDP, the growth is decreasing. This year,in fact, is the lowest of the past 5 years. And you know China is, I said, is a large country todefend, the Chinese military has a lot of commitments.