BEIJING (Reuters) -China will stage a massive military parade next month involving tens of thousands of people in the heart of Beijing to commemorate 80 years since the end of World War Two following the surrender of Japan.
Hundreds of aircraft including fighter jets and bombers as well as ground equipment, some of which have never been seen in public before, will be featured in the parade, military officials said at a press conference.
The September 3 parade, the second such procession since 2015 to observe the formal surrender of Japanese forces in 1945, will be a show of China’s military strength as some of its neighbours and Western nations look on with concern over the projection of power by the People’s Liberation Army in recent years.
From trucks fitted with devices to take out drones, new tanks and early warning aircraft to protect China’s aircraft carriers, military attaches and security analysts say they are expecting China to display a host of new weapons and equipment at the parade.
Additions to its expanding suite of missiles, particularly anti-ship versions and weapons with hypersonic capabilities, will be particularly closely watched as the U.S. and its allies prepare to counter China in any future regional conflict.
The 70-minute-long “Victory Day” parade, comprising 45 contingents of troops will be surveyed by President Xi Jinping at Tiananmen Square alongside a number of foreign leaders and dignitaries including Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also attended the 2015 parade.
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.
(Reporting by Mei Mei Chu and Joe Cash; Additional reporting by Gregory Torode in Hong Kong; Writing by Ryan Woo; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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