31 July, 2017
President Xi Jinping urged the People's Liberation Army to spare no efforts to become a world-class military after inspecting troops in the Chinese military's first field parade in several decades. The PLA is the world's largest army and is now going an ambitious modernisation programme to cut troop numbers and boost use of technology.
The officers and soldiers stood to attention along the length of an airstrip at Zhurihe military training base in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, flanked by sandy prairies that stretched to mountains on the skyline.
To reinforce his political position, Xi has extracted televised vows of loyalty from top generals while holding frequent events to show his affinity and support for the military, including a troop inspection in Hong Kong in June and a ceremony to present citations to 10 officers last week.
"Comrades, thanks for your hard work!" he said, to which the troops responded: "Serve the people!"
Tanks, vehicle-mounted nuclear-capable missiles and other equipment rolled by as military aircraft flew above, including H-6K bombers, which have been patrolling near Taiwan and Japan recently.
"The world is not peaceful", Xi in a speech afterward that invoked his signature political idea of a "China Dream" to build the country into a global economic and military power.
He said the military must "unswervingly" back the ruling Communist Party and "always listen to and follow the party's orders, and march to wherever the party points".
We have tracked the unprecedented deployment of Russia's largest surface combatant and submarine-both of which are nuclear powered relics from the height of the latter Cold War-from the announcement that they would be included in the parade, through their high-profile voyage from the Barents Sea to St. Petersburg.
Chinese soldiers carry the flags of (L to R) the Communist Party, the state, and the People's Liberation Army during a military parade at the Zhurihe training base in China's northern Inner Mongolia region. It is also the first time China has held a parade to celebrate the founding of the PLA. Their ships, a destroyer, a frigate and a supply ship, also took part in the parade-a major symbol of the deepening military ties between Moscow and Beijing.
'We need to build a strong people's military more than any other time in history, ' Xi said, who served briefly in the military as an aide to the defence minister and past year assumed the title of commander in chief of the military's Joint Operations Command Center, whose insignia he wore on the camouflage battle dress.
