China celebrates 70 years anniversary

BEIJING — President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday that "no force" can shake China as he oversaw a huge military parade to celebrate 70 years of communist rule. 

Marking the occasion, tanks, new nuclear missiles and a supersonic drone paraded down the Avenue of Eternal Peace as Xi and other Communist Party leaders watched from a rostrum overlooking Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

The event was meant to extol China's journey from a poor nation broken by war to the world's second largest economy. 

New weapons 

Xi, who wore the distinctive "Mao suit", delivered a speech invoking the "Chinese dream" of national rejuvenation — his grand vision of restoring the country to perceived past glory.

"There is no force that can shake the foundation of this great nation," Xi said from the Tiananmen rostrum where Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949.

Helicopters flew in a "70" formation over the city as troops goose-stepped across Tiananmen Square in what state media described as the country's biggest ever military parade, featuring 580 pieces of armament and 160 aircraft.

The People's Liberation Army brought out its newest hardware, including the DF-41, a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile with range enough to reach the entire United States, and the DF-17, a launcher for a hypersonic glider.

Warplanes including the J-20 stealth fighter soared through the smog-choked skies, and state media said a high-altitude, high-speed reconnaissance drone made a public appearance for the first time. In his speech, Xi said China "must adhere" to the one country, two systems policy governing Hong Kong and "maintain the long-term prosperity and stability" of the city.

"The party hopes that this occasion will add to its legitimacy and rally support at a time of internal and external challenges," Adam Ni, China researcher at Macquarie University in Sydney, told AFP.