Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday told the military to transform itself into an elite force as he oversaw a parade with flybys of advanced jets and a mass rally of troops to mark 90 years since the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
China’s armed forces, the world’s largest, are in the midst of an ambitious modernization program, which includes investment in technology and new equipment such as stealth fighters and aircraft carriers, as well as cuts to troop numbers.
Xi presided over the large-scale military parade at the remote Zhurihe Training Base in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, where he inspected troops from the back of a jeep, an event carried live on state television.
Photo: Xinhua via AP
Xi, who oversees the PLA in his role as head of the powerful Chinese Central Military Commission, repeatedly shouted “Hello comrades” and “Comrades, you are working hard” into four microphones fixed atop his motorcade as martial music blared in the background.
Tanks, vehicle-mounted nuclear-capable missiles and other equipment rolled by as military aircraft flew above, including H-6K bombers — which have been patrolling near Taiwan and Japan — the J-15 carrier-based fighters and the new generation J-20 stealth fighter.
“Today, we are closer to the goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation than any other time in history and we need to build a strong people’s military more than any other time in history,” Xi told the assembled troops in a short speech that did not yield any policy announcements.
Xi said that the military must “unswervingly” back the Chinese Communist Party.
“Always listen to and follow the party’s orders and march to wherever the party points,” he said.
Xi said that the world was not peaceful, but he did not mention any specific hot spots, such as territorial disputes in the South China Sea, Taiwan or tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles programs.
It was the first time China has marked Army Day on Aug. 1 with a military parade since the Communist revolution in 1949, state news agency Xinhua said.
It was also the first time Xi has reviewed troops in the field like this, Xinhua added.
The location for the parade embodied a “dust-covered battlefield atmosphere” for the 12,000 troops who participated, Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesman Ren Guoqiang (任國強) said in a statement.
The nation’s military is more nimble and technologically proficient following reforms to make it more compact and responsive, and less reliant on its troop numbers, Xi said last week.
China has not fought a war in decades and the government insists it has no hostile intent, but simply needs the ability to properly defend what is now the world’s second-largest economy.
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