BEIJING: China on Thursday celebrated 60 years of communist rule with a massive military parade and elaborate pageantry on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square showcasing the nation’s revival as a global power.
Thousands of troops marched in tight formations, fighter jets flew over the city and the world’s largest military displayed an array of high-tech weaponry including intercontinental ballistic missiles in a patriotic show of force.
President Hu Jintao extolled the country’s Communist Party-led rebirth in a speech to the invitation-only crowd from Tiananmen gate, where Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic on Oct. 1, 1949.
“The development and progress of the new China over the past 60 years fully proved that only socialism can save China, and only reform and opening up can ensure the development of China,” Hu told the crowd.
China typically holds grand celebrations every 10 years to commemorate Mao’s pronouncement, but authorities promised that this year’s festivities would top those staged in the past — and outdo last year’s Olympic opening ceremony.
The government wants to send a clear message: that China, the world’s third-largest economy and with a population of 1.3 billion, has re-emerged as a proud and undeniable global force.
Hu, in a high-collared Mao-style tunic, underlined this confidence in his speech before a packed Tiananmen Square festooned in the nation’s red and yellow.
“Today a socialist China that faces the future is standing tall and firm in the East,” he declared.
An estimated 200,000 people took part in the lavish morning festivities, which unfolded under clear blue skies.
Flexing its growing muscle, China paraded long-range nuclear missiles capable and other homegrown weaponry signalling that a nation once bullied by foreign powers is a pushover no more.
The military show was followed by a colorful parade, with tens of thousands of people marching and singing in unison in a testament to China’s ability to harness its vast manpower on a massive scale.
National sports heroes such as hurdler Liu Xiang and former Olympic gymnastics champion Li Ning rode on one of a series of brightly decorated floats lauding the country’s achievements over six decades.
