China will stage a massive military parade next month in the heart of Beijing to commemorate 80 years since the end of World War II, and to showcase new Chinese weaponry that will be “displayed to the outside world for the first time”, state media report.
Hundreds of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including fighter jets and bombers as well as ground forces with the latest military equipment, will be featured in the parade, Chinese military officials said at a news conference on Wednesday.
China’s official Xinhua news agency said the military parade and “joint armament formations… will be organised in a manner reflecting their functions in real combat”, and will include air, land and sea combat groups.
“The military parade will feature new fourth-generation equipment as the core, including advanced tanks, carrier-based aircraft and fighter jets, organised into operational modules to demonstrate Chinese military’s system-based combat capability,” China’s state-affiliated Global Times media outlet reported.
“All the weaponry and equipment on display in this military parade are domestically produced active-duty main battle equipment. This event showcases a concentrated display of the new generation of weaponry and equipment of the Chinese military,” the Global Times added.
The September 3 event will be the second parade since 2015 to mark the formal surrender of Japanese forces in 1945.
Foreign military attaches and security analysts told the Reuters news agency that they were expecting China’s military to display a host of new weaponry and equipment at the parade, including military trucks fitted with devices to take out drones, new tanks and early warning aircraft to protect China’s aircraft carriers.
The United States and its allies will be closely watching the display of military might, particularly for China’s expanding arsenal of missiles, especially antiship missile systems and weapons with hypersonic capabilities.
The “Victory Day” parade, involving 45 contingents of troops, will take about 70 minutes to file past President President Xi Jinping in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. The Chinese leader will be accompanied by a number of invited foreign leaders and dignitaries, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also attended the last anniversary parade in 2015.
Chinese authorities have stepped up security in downtown Beijing since early August, when the first large-scale parade rehearsal was held, setting up checkpoints, diverting road traffic and shutting shopping malls and office buildings.
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