"Patriotic passion" and "tears of joy" filled Beijing streets, writes Reuters, as China’s National Day military parade extravaganza wound up on Tuesday.
Though state media pundits have sought to assure the West it's not at all about "flexing muscles, but showing military transparency," it remains that citizens were handpicked by the government to merely stand on the sides of streets to watch phalanxes of tanks, armored vehicles, and the country's newest high-tech aircraft roll by.
Perhaps there was some "patriotic passion" on proud display, and as state media dubiously touted as a day of "flags, songs, and sports" — but it remains, awkwardly, that as Reuters also points out—
To mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) a total of 15,000 troops marched, and over 160 aircraft and close to 600 pieces of military equipment were on display — and as Global Times noted, all military hardware featured was domestically made, with close to half of it reportedly never-before-seen.
Among them, the DF-17 ballistic missiles, which is touted as capable of circumventing US defense systems, also believed capable of striking the continental US within 30 minutes.
The DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile is believed to have the longest range in the world and is Beijing's newest hypersonic nuclear-capable missile.
China's military has shown off a new hypersonic ballistic nuclear missile believed capable of breaching all existing anti-missile shields deployed by the United States and its allies.
No comments:
Post a Comment