China’s Communist Party Celebrates Its 70th Anniversary with Military Parade
The military parade on October 1 showcased the PLA and some of its new military technology. (Kremlin)
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) celebrated its 70th anniversary with a military parade in Beijing on Tuesday, October 1. The parade featured the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which represent the PRC’s armed forces, and the PLA’s various new military technologies, ranging from missiles to nuclear-powered submarines.
The parade took place through the city of Beijing. Soldiers marched past President Xi Jinping and other leaders in Tiananmen Square. The Chinese government revealed advanced weaponry for the first time. According to Asahi Shimbun, foreign analysts say that Chinese weapons, including drones and missiles, are rapidly developing and approaching the United States’, Russia’s, and Europe’s level of technology.
The military parade on October 1 happened amidst a variety of tensions. China suffers politically from job losses due to its tariff war with the United States. The tariff war has had an especially large impact on Chinese exporters. The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) also faces tensions in Hong Kong as anti-government protests proceed and conflicts between protesters and Hong Kong police escalate.
However, the CCP held the parade in Tiananmen Square which is not only China’s political heart but also the same location where Chinese soldiers engaged in forcible confrontations with protesters in 1989. President Xi Jinping used the anniversary as an opportunity to demonstrate China’s military, economic, and political power. He rode in an open-topped limousine during the parade and ceremoniously gave a speech on the same spot as Mao’s 1949 declaration of the PRC’s establishment.
“No force can stop the Chinese people and the Chinese nation forging ahead,” Xi said in Mandarin, according to an official translation broadcast through state media.
According to CNBC, Xi also pledged peace in his speech: “Forging ahead, we must remain committed to the strategy of peaceful reunification, and ‘One Country, Two Systems.’” He said that China would “advance peaceful development of cross-strait relations, unite the whole country, and continue to strive forward the complete unification of our country.”
Although Xi did not mention any countries by name in his speech on October 1, he did remind Taiwan in a speech on September 30 that the Chinese government will continue its efforts to unite it with mainland China.