China parade to showcase military hardware
naky
www.diecastingpartsupplier.com
2015-09-16 16:37:30
China will next week make a public display of its weaponry in a military parade through the heart of Beijing, highlighting its most modern tanks, missiles, fighter jets and attack helicopters a fortnight before president Xi Jinping heads to Washington for talks.
On Tuesday, Beijing announced that 49 countries had agreed to send leaders or representatives to the September 3 parade, which marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war.
China insists the event is a sincere attempt at healing and reconciliation, but some countries suspect it is more an exercise in drumbeating nationalism. With tanks set to roll through symbolically resonant Tiananmen Square, site of the bloody 1989 massacre, many are either staying away or sending lower-level representation.
Leaders such as South Korea’s Park Geun-hye, who will attend the ceremonies but not the parade, have placed strict limits on their participation.
Britain has said it will send Kenneth Clarke, former justice minister, as an envoy. Germany will be represented by its ambassador. France will send Laurent Fabius, its foreign minister.
Of UN Security Council members, only Russian president Vladimir Putin has confirmed his attendance, and a complement of Russian troops will march with Chinese troops. Mr Putin hosted Mr Xi in May for Russia’s own victory parade, which was widely boycotted among global leaders because of the war in Ukraine.
However, the star of the show will be the hardware on display.
China has not publicly confirmed what equipment will be included in the parade, and in rehearsals many advanced weapons have been concealed under tarpaulins. But experts expect that among them will be a truck-mounted version of the DF-41 intercontinental missile, which carries multiple warheads and was tested earlier this year.
“I expect the featured weapon of the parade will be the DF-41,” said Yue Gang, a former officer in the People’s Liberation Army. He said that while satellite images of the weapon had been published, this would be its first public display.
Shao Yongling, a colonel at the PLA’s Second Artillery Command College, told the Communist party-affiliated Global Times that Sunday’s rehearsal was the first time the DF-21D “carrier killer” missile had been displayed in public. Many US experts say the US has no defence against the missile, which flies at up to 15 times the speed of sound and is aimed at destroying surface ships.