Military parade in Beijing to mark 70th anniversary of end of WWII
Some 30 foreign leaders attended the memorial event, representing countries from Russia and Belarus, to Egypt, South Korea and Venezuela. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also attended the parade, while the majority of “high-profile” Western leaders have passed on the event.
Over 200 Chinese aircraft, including fighter jets, bombers and dozens of helicopters, zoomed above the fascinated crowd.China has rolled out seven types of missiles on to Tiananmen Square, including four ballistic nuclear missiles.
Among them was the Dong Feng-21D anti-aircraft-carrier medium-range nuclear missile (‘Carrier-Killer’), which currently is the world’s only ballistic missile capable of engaging a moving target out at sea.
Beijing also demonstrated the Dong Feng-26 nuclear missile, a medium-range ballistic projectile prohibited in Russia and the US because of a bilateral agreement. This intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) was dubbed the “Guam killer” because it can reach the US Pacific Ocean base.
The PLA also presented its newest intercontinental strategic ballistic missiles, the DF-5 with a range of 12,000 kilometers and the DF-31A – range 8,000 kilometers.
During an almost two-hour-long People’s Liberation Army (PLA) parade, several hundred military vehicles of around 40 different types rolled across the square.
The whole event was accompanied by an army orchestra and a 2,400-strong massed choir that sang some 30 songs.
Chinese troops were not marching alone on the commemorative date: They were joined by their fellow soldiers from Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Mongolia, Pakistan, Serbia, Tajikistan and Russia.
Additionally, for the first time in the history of Chinese parades, female soldiers marched on Tiananmen Square.
Addressing the nation and guests prior to the show, President Xi Jinping reaffirmed China’s commitment to the path of peace.
“Prejudice and discrimination, hatred and war can only cause disaster and pain,” Xi said, announcing plans to reduce the number of the country’s troops by 300,000, some 13 percent of the current 2.3-million strong PLA, as part of the country’s long-term military reform.
“China will always uphold the path of peaceful development,” Xi said.