China celebrated its wealth and rising might with a show of goose-stepping troops, gaudy floats and nuclear-capable missiles in Beijing yesterday, 60 years after Mao Zedong (毛澤東) proclaimed its embrace of communism.
Tiananmen Square became a high-tech stage to celebrate the birth of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on Oct. 1, 1949, with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership and guests watching a meticulously disciplined show of national confidence.
Celebrations began in the morning with troops firing cannons and raising the red national flag while President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), wearing a slate grey “Mao” suit, looked on from the Gate of Heavenly Peace.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Hu descended to Beijing’s main thoroughfare and inspected rows of troops, riding past them in a black limousine and bellowing repeatedly, “Hello comrades, hard-working comrades!”
“From here it was that Chairman Mao solemnly announced the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and from then the Chinese people stood up,” Hu told the guests and troops. “Today a socialist China embracing modernization, embracing the world and embracing the future stands lofty and firm.”
The two-hour parade of 8,000 soldiers, tanks and missiles, 60 elaborate floats and 100,000 well-drilled civilians was a proud moment for many Chinese, watching the spectacle across the country on TV. Tiananmen Square was lit up last night with a huge fireworks display.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The government also wanted the day of extraordinary spectacle and security to make the case that its formula of strict one-party control and rapid growth remains the right one for hauling the world’s third-biggest economy into prosperity.
The soldiers goose-stepping past at exactly 116 steps a minute carried the theme that the CCP knows how to run a show — and the country.
“The parade is reminiscent of the old Soviet-era May Day parades that bristled with the latest missiles and served as a warning to the US,” said Wendell Minnick, Asia bureau chief of Defense News.
PHOTO: EPA
“For many in the US who watch the Chinese military, this is a real intelligence bonanza. Many of the weapons, particularly missiles, have not been seen by the public before. US intelligence analysts will go nuts over the photos,” he said.
“Of particular concern for the US and Japan was the display of the new road-mobile Dong Feng-31 intercontinental ballistic missile [ICBM],” Minnick said.
“China is clearly signaling to the US it has a nuclear strike capability that can hit Washington. Prior silo-based ICBMs such as the aging DF-5 were unreliable and easy for the US to target. But the new road-mobile ICBMs China is producing will be very difficult to locate during a war,” he said.
Short-range Dong Feng 11 and 15 were also displayed, he said, noting that these kinds of missiles were used during the Taiwan missile crisis of 1996.
“The parade is a clear signal to Taiwan. The variety and quality of new arms on display has to be intimidating to Taiwan military officials. China is basically saying to Taiwan independence advocates, ‘forget it, you’re going to lose.’”
But even as the displays celebrated the PRC, security cordons prevented residents from seeing the parade, with central Beijing emptied of all passers-by.
“It’s not really for us ordinary people, is it?” said Wang Chenggong, a migrant worker from Henan Province trying to watch a TV near a crowded streetside stall.
Residents on the parade route were banned from peeking out their windows.
“Go home! Leave now! Go watch TV at home!” a policeman yelled through a bullhorn at a crowd gathering kilometers from the square.
After the military parade, floats lauding China’s history, achievements and regions passed by.
They included a farm produce float with two model cows, one showing China’s space program with a lunar orbiter and an Olympic Games display with a model of the Bird’s Nest stadium.
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