China said Thursday it will complete the cuts of its standing troops by 300,000 by the end of 2017, in its latest effort to build slimmer but stronger armed forces.

The announcement came hours after President Xi Jinping made the pledge at China's massive military parade commemorating the end of WWII that was staged on Thursday morning at the Tian'anmen Square in central Beijing.

This will be the fourth military reduction for China since 1980s, which boasts the world's biggest militaries of 2.3 million.

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