By Mei Mei Chu and Joe Cash
BEIJING (Reuters) -China will stage a massive military parade next month in the heart of Beijing to commemorate 80 years since the end of World War Two following the surrender of Japan, mobilising tens of thousands of people and showcasing never-seen-before weapons.
Hundreds of aircraft including fighter jets and bombers as well as high-tech armaments such as precision-strike weapons capable of travelling at five times the speed of sound, will be featured at the parade, military officials said at a press conference on Wednesday.
The parade, the second such procession since 2015 to observe the formal surrender of Japanese forces in September 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 anticipating 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 weapons and equipment) will fully demonstrate our military’s robust ability to adapt to technological advancements, evolving warfare patterns, and win future wars,” Wu Zeke, deputy director of the military parade, told reporters.
New armaments due to debut at the parade will account for a significant share of those on display, according to the military officials.
The exact number of troops, weapons and equipment to be shown was not disclosed.
‘VICTORY DAY’
The roughly 70-minute-long “Victory Day” parade on September 3, comprising 45 formations 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.
At the last World War Two parade, more than 12,000 soldiers, including diverse contingents from Russia and Belarus to Mongolia and Cambodia, marched through the city alongside veterans. Beijing had also mobilised over 500 pieces of military equipment and 200 aircraft.
Many Western leaders had shunned the 2015 event, wary of the message that China would send with its exhibition of military might. Then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declined to attend.
Foreign attendees at the time included former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
No information on participating foreign troops or attendance of foreign leaders was disclosed at the press conference.
Authorities have stepped up security in downtown Beijing since the first rehearsals this month, setting up checkpoints, diverting road traffic and shutting shopping malls and office buildings.
Beijing has so far conducted two large-scale rehearsals on the weekends of August 9-10 and 16-17, attended by 22,000 and 40,000 people involving troops, police and spectators.
Preparations for the parade are basically completed, officials said on Wednesday.
(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)
