Chinese celebrate 60th anniversary with great arms display

BEIJING — They said there would be blue skies, and blue skies there were, as President Hu Jintao stood erect in his limousine Thursday morning to review the troops and to view the country’s high-tech missiles and tanks at the opening of ceremonies marking China’s 60th anniversary as a republic.

Wearing a Sun Yat-sen suit in honour of the man often called the father of the Chinese republic, Hu greeted an estimated 5,000 soldiers as they stood at attention saying: “Hello, comrades. Work hard.”

After nearly a week of fog and drizzle, it took China’s weather wizards their largest effort yet to deliver the bright blue skies to complement the picture-perfect parade that has been planned and practised in top secret for the past several months.

Although there were no “ordinary” people lining the route to wave flags or to cheer, even on television screens, the goose-stepping soldiers and rolling tanks were a formidable sight as they proceeded down Beijing’s central Chang’an Avenue.

The parade offered the first long look at Chinese military hardware since 1999. Military experts around the world probably won’t be surprised by the 52 new Chinese weapons on display — the missiles, drones and fighter jets — but the home audience is likely to be impressed, and that’s what counts.

As with the civilian parade that followed with 100,000 marchers, 60 floats and a strong message of national unity, most of Thursday’s events were for domestic consumption.

The “Propaganda and Education Outline” for the parade, published in the official People’s Liberation Army News last February, clearly stated the message Beijing wants to send, and it isn’t military muscle-flexing or world domination.

“This military parade is a comprehensive display of the party’s ability to rule, and of the overall might of the nation,” it read. “It has a profound political significance, in that it bolsters confidence in the party’s leadership and belief in socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

The patriotic intent is also reflected in many of the 50 “official slogans” that have been coined for the anniversary, including the simple chant:

“Love live the great Chinese people!

“Long live the great Communist party!

“Long live the great People’s Republic of China!

“Long life the great unity of all nationalities of China!”

Around Beijing, signs of the celebrations are everywhere.

Red and yellow banners line the main thoroughfares and Chinese flags flutter from every second shop, even in the rundown rabbit warren of hutongs, or lanes, behind the main boulevards.

Everywhere, too, is the army of “volunteers” the Party recruited to keep an eye on things at street level. There are 800,000 of them, clad in bright yellow T-shirts and red ball caps.

They were chosen to be the vanguard for the celebrations, and have been on the streets since Sept. 4. It is tough keeping tabs on a bustling city, however, and they are obviously getting tired. By late afternoon Wednesday, it was a common sight to see them, tea jugs in hand, resting.

Placing armed soldiers and armoured personnel carriers at transit stations and stepping up the screening of parcels and bags in the subway were the earliest and most visible measures taken to keep the capital safe during the celebrations, but it is the things that “aren’t happening” that are probably the most draconian.

Stores near Tiananmen Square — where politicians, diplomats and the creme de la creme of the Communist party were to view the parade — were forced in the name of security to close for business Tuesday, two days ahead of the big event; and the expensive hotels along the Chang’an Avenue, the city’s grand ceremonial boulevard and parade route, were told not to rent out rooms facing the street. As well, people living in the elegant apartment blocks along the route, including many diplomats, were instructed to keep off their balconies on parade day and to shut their windows.

In a bid to keep the skies above the parade route clear for the planned flypast, the Beijing Airport was scheduled to be shut down Thursday morning.

Homing pigeons, kites and model airplanes have been banned from the skies, too, “for security reasons.”

amccabe@canwest.com