<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=452><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Published October 2, 2009
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>China celebrates its 60th, and its newfound prominence on the global stage
Up to 200,000 people took part in the parade
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</TD><TD>Feedback</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>(BEIJING) The People's Republic of China marked its 60th anniversary yesterday, staging a parade through the heart of Beijing to demonstrate the country's rising global influence.
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</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD>Big bang: Fireworks explode over Tiananmen Square during a parade to mark the 60th year of the founding of the People's Republic of China </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>President Hu Jintao, wearing a black suit similar to one worn by People's Republic founder Mao Zedong, joined former president Jiang Zemin and members of the ruling Politburo Standing Committee on the rostrum of Tiananmen - the Gate of Heavenly Peace. It was there, on Oct 1, 1949, that Mao declared the Communist Party's victory in a civil war.
China was 'able and confident in playing its global role', Mr Hu said in a speech, in which he vowed that the country would seek 'peaceful reunification' with Taiwan. The island has been ruled for much of the past 60 years by the Nationalists, who fled there following their defeat at Mao's hands.
Hundreds of missiles and tanks and thousands of soldiers from the world's largest standing army paraded down Chang'an Avenue through Tiananmen Square following Mr Hu's speech. He had earlier reviewed the troops from an open-topped Red Flag limousine, yelling out 'Hello comrades' and 'Comrades, it's been hard on you'. Overhead, 151 military aircraft, including J-10 fighter jets, flew past in 12 formations.
Mr Hu and his fellow leaders are celebrating China's newfound prominence on the global stage. China now produces in a day the equivalent of a year's output five decades ago, and is poised to surpass Japan as the world's second-largest economy by 2010.
The Communists, who lifted 300 million citizens from abject poverty and raised the country's international influence, must now meet increasing demands for domestic freedom and accountability.
The celebration 'is a show-off to beef up confidence in, and support to, the regime', said Huang Jing, visiting professor at the National University of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. 'Serious questions need to be asked how such a show of strength can translate into' transparency and tolerance for 'ethnic, cultural and religious diversity'.
About 80,000 children in Tiananmen Square spelled out the Chinese characters for 'national celebration' with red and gold placards to begin the celebration. Later, the placards read 'obey the Party's command' and 'serve the people'. The People's Liberation Army displayed 52 types of new weapons, including unmanned aerial vehicles and aircraft with advance-warning radar. Five thousand soldiers marched through the square, past portraits of Mao and Sun Yat-sen, Republican China's first president after the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912.
Among the new weapons, according to China Central Television, was a cruise missile called the Long Sword.
As a battery of Dongfeng (East Wind) intercontinental ballistic missiles on mobile carriers drove by, the CCTV commentator reminded viewers that China abided by a pledge never to make a first nuclear strike.
Up to 200,000 people took part in the parade, which included a flotilla of 60 vehicles bedecked with flowers and digital displays showcasing six decades of China's political, scientific, technological and economic achievements.
Among those were floats with portraits of Mao, Deng Xiaoping, a leader who died in 1997, as well as Mr Jiang and Mr Hu. Each were accompanied by recordings of their famous speeches, and thousands of marchers surrounding the floats carried banners trumpeting catchphrases such as 'implement and carry out scientific development'.
The celebration is an opportunity for the government to showcase its achievements to the country's 1.3 billion people. CCTV's broadcast of the event telecast preparations of the parade, complete with marching soldiers, jets and tanks, with the theme of Disney Co's Pirates of the Caribbean in the background. A commentator extolled the economic achievements of the People's Republic in the minutes before the parade began.
Police kept most of Beijing's 3.8 million private cars off of the roads yesterday, and restricted access to the city centre. South of Di'anmen Street, which bisects the inner city from east to west, police armed with machine guns blocked cars from heading towards Tiananmen Square yesterday morning. - Bloomberg
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>China celebrates its 60th, and its newfound prominence on the global stage
Up to 200,000 people took part in the parade
<TABLE class=storyLinks border=0 cellSpacing=4 cellPadding=1 width=136 align=right><TBODY><TR class=font10><TD width=20 align=right>
</TD><TD>Email this article</TD></TR><TR class=font10><TD width=20 align=right>
</TD><TD>Print article </TD></TR><TR class=font10><TD width=20 align=right>
</TD><TD>Feedback</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>(BEIJING) The People's Republic of China marked its 60th anniversary yesterday, staging a parade through the heart of Beijing to demonstrate the country's rising global influence. <TABLE class=picBoxL cellSpacing=2 width=100 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD>Big bang: Fireworks explode over Tiananmen Square during a parade to mark the 60th year of the founding of the People's Republic of China </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>President Hu Jintao, wearing a black suit similar to one worn by People's Republic founder Mao Zedong, joined former president Jiang Zemin and members of the ruling Politburo Standing Committee on the rostrum of Tiananmen - the Gate of Heavenly Peace. It was there, on Oct 1, 1949, that Mao declared the Communist Party's victory in a civil war. China was 'able and confident in playing its global role', Mr Hu said in a speech, in which he vowed that the country would seek 'peaceful reunification' with Taiwan. The island has been ruled for much of the past 60 years by the Nationalists, who fled there following their defeat at Mao's hands.
Hundreds of missiles and tanks and thousands of soldiers from the world's largest standing army paraded down Chang'an Avenue through Tiananmen Square following Mr Hu's speech. He had earlier reviewed the troops from an open-topped Red Flag limousine, yelling out 'Hello comrades' and 'Comrades, it's been hard on you'. Overhead, 151 military aircraft, including J-10 fighter jets, flew past in 12 formations.
Mr Hu and his fellow leaders are celebrating China's newfound prominence on the global stage. China now produces in a day the equivalent of a year's output five decades ago, and is poised to surpass Japan as the world's second-largest economy by 2010.
The Communists, who lifted 300 million citizens from abject poverty and raised the country's international influence, must now meet increasing demands for domestic freedom and accountability.
The celebration 'is a show-off to beef up confidence in, and support to, the regime', said Huang Jing, visiting professor at the National University of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. 'Serious questions need to be asked how such a show of strength can translate into' transparency and tolerance for 'ethnic, cultural and religious diversity'.
About 80,000 children in Tiananmen Square spelled out the Chinese characters for 'national celebration' with red and gold placards to begin the celebration. Later, the placards read 'obey the Party's command' and 'serve the people'. The People's Liberation Army displayed 52 types of new weapons, including unmanned aerial vehicles and aircraft with advance-warning radar. Five thousand soldiers marched through the square, past portraits of Mao and Sun Yat-sen, Republican China's first president after the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912.
Among the new weapons, according to China Central Television, was a cruise missile called the Long Sword.
As a battery of Dongfeng (East Wind) intercontinental ballistic missiles on mobile carriers drove by, the CCTV commentator reminded viewers that China abided by a pledge never to make a first nuclear strike.
Up to 200,000 people took part in the parade, which included a flotilla of 60 vehicles bedecked with flowers and digital displays showcasing six decades of China's political, scientific, technological and economic achievements.
Among those were floats with portraits of Mao, Deng Xiaoping, a leader who died in 1997, as well as Mr Jiang and Mr Hu. Each were accompanied by recordings of their famous speeches, and thousands of marchers surrounding the floats carried banners trumpeting catchphrases such as 'implement and carry out scientific development'.
The celebration is an opportunity for the government to showcase its achievements to the country's 1.3 billion people. CCTV's broadcast of the event telecast preparations of the parade, complete with marching soldiers, jets and tanks, with the theme of Disney Co's Pirates of the Caribbean in the background. A commentator extolled the economic achievements of the People's Republic in the minutes before the parade began.
Police kept most of Beijing's 3.8 million private cars off of the roads yesterday, and restricted access to the city centre. South of Di'anmen Street, which bisects the inner city from east to west, police armed with machine guns blocked cars from heading towards Tiananmen Square yesterday morning. - Bloomberg
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