Rows of neatly dressed soldiers marched in unison to shouted instructions at a training ground in humid Beijing on Wednesday, as China prepares to unveil new domestically produced military hardware at a parade next month.
President Xi Jinping will inspect troops in the capital’s Tiananmen Square at the event to mark 80 years since the end of World War II, with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and other world leaders expected to attend.
Pin-straight lines of men and women clutching guns packed the pavement at a rehearsal on a military training square under the hot sun in southeast Beijing on Wednesday.
Soldiers in their twenties stared sternly as sweat collected on their faces and soaked through their fatigues.
Wang Ranran, an army guard, said she was “extremely proud” to participate in the parade on September 3.
“China often uses the term ‘steel-gun rose’ to describe its female soldiers,” she said. “The combination of roses and guns, we really like it.”
Troops wearing white, green and navy blue uniforms with Chinese flags on their chests started and stopped to the piercing voices of the officers directing the show.
Training that is “strict, difficult and practical” has always been the army’s tradition, said Lan Yu, a second-level staff sergeant.
Rehearsals had not lasted long, he said, because parade training was part of their daily schedule.
– New hardware –
Millions of Chinese people were killed during a prolonged war with imperial Japan in the 1930s and 40s, which became part of a global conflict following Tokyo’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
The ruling Communist Party has held a series of blockbuster events in recent years to commemorate its wartime resistance.
China’s military will showcase its latest equipment on September 3, “reflecting the evolution of modern warfare”, Major General Wu Zeke, an official at China’s military commission, told a news briefing on Wednesday.
“All of the weapons and equipment taking part in this review were selected from domestically produced, currently active main battle systems, with a significant proportion being newly unveiled equipment,” Wu said.
These will include strategic heavy weapons and hypersonic precision systems, as well as unmanned and counter-unmanned equipment making their public debut, he said.
The parade, which will last around 70 minutes, will “fully showcase our military’s powerful capability to prevail in modern war”, Wu said.
It will also feature ground troops marching in formation, armoured columns, aerial echelons and other high-tech fighting gear.
The Kremlin has confirmed that Putin will attend, and Chinese officials said other world leaders were also expected at the parade.
China raised its defence spending for 2025 by 7.2 percent in March.
The increase comes as Beijing’s armed forces undergo rapid modernisation and eye deepening strategic competition with the United States.
China has the world’s second-largest military budget but lags well behind the United States, its primary strategic rival.
bur-je/pbt
