China Shows Off Military Might at 60th Anniversary Parade

Tanks and lorries bearing nuclear missiles rolled through the streets of the Chinese capital today, fighter planes roared overhead and tens of thousands of military and security forces marched through Tiananmen Square as the People's Republic celebrated its 60th anniversary this morning.

But few of the people of Beijing were allowed anywhere near the vast parade. While about 30,000 guests were invited, other residents were told to stay indoors and watch the 3 km procession on television.

The huge display of might – its biggest ever show of military hardware – combined the ideological slogans and massed ranks of previous parades with unprecedented security levels and extraordinary choreography.

Soldiers were arranged in part according to height and have spent months practicing their marching – in part to ensure their steps were precisely the right length.

The veteran "model workers" waving to the crowd, and the floats with engines and giant wheatsheafs could have come straight from the China of the fifties. Other sections paid tribute to Mao Zedong thought, which state television commentators said had been "proved correct". The country which has long since turned its back on Maoism for "socialism with Chinese characteristics" – the political status quo but a market economy, albeit with high levels of state intervention.

There were innovations too – the glittery pompoms brandished by marchers, along with garlands or bunches of flowers; the women's militia, marching in miniskirts and boots; the wind turbines which graced the "energy" float alongside oil derricks.

There was an Olympic formation with a model of the Bird's Nest stadium and the Chinese astronaut who performed the country's first spacewalk last year waved from his float.

He must have sweltered in his spacesuit: despite the heavy fog of the last two days, blue skies appeared on cue early this morning. Officials had pledged to seed clouds if necessary to ensure good weather, and rain appeared abruptly at around midnight last night.

Thousands of students flipped over coloured cards to form slogans including "Loyalty to the party" as the tanks and amphibious landing craft rolled through Tiananmen Square.

Events began with a 60-gun salute. Hu Jintao – chairman of the Central Military Commission, general-secretary of the Communist central committee and Chinese president – stood in an open-topped limousine to reviewed the troops along Chang'an Avenue. He wore a black Mao suit, while other leaders wore Western suits.

"Hello comrades!" he shouted at intervals. In perfect unison, the troops replied: "Hello commander!" and "Serve the people!"

Later, standing on the Tiananmen rostrum – the spot where Mao proclaimed the creation of the new China – Hu declared: "[We] have triumphed over all sorts of difficulties and setbacks and risks to gain the great achievements evident to the world.

"Today, a socialist China geared toward modernisation, the world and the future towers majestically in the East."

Commentators on China's English language TV channel repeatedly stressed the country's commitment to peace, describing its military as defensive and stressing its contribution to peacekeeping initiatives.

Minxin Pei, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College in California, said: "It sticks to the strategy of using nuclear power to defend and refuses to engage in the nuclear arms race," said the commentator as camouflaged lorries bearing ballistic missiles rolled past the leaders and the airforce roared overhead, issuing a rainbow of smoke-trails behind them.

"For more than 15 years [Chinese leaders] have been denouncing those who call China's rise a threat. Now they put on this display of military hardware, with goose-stepping soldiers to match. Aren't they confirming the China Threat?"

Others have suggested the parade is also useful advertising: China has a growing arms industry, though it still lags far behind the United States and European countries including the UK.

The country's first female fighter pilots were among those flying the 151 jets; "reminders of our heroines in history". But more than half a century after Mao declared that "women hold up half the sky", the frequent shots of leaders on the Tiananmen rostrum were a reminder that no women serve in the Politburo select committee.

Hu and his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, watched as huge portraits of themselves were carried past, part of a lengthy section celebrating China's leaders since 1949, but omitting Hua Guofeng, Mao's immediate successor. As Mao's portrait passed, a loudspeaker blared out a recording of him announcing the founding of the republic.

A 2,000-strong military band played martial tunes throughout the procession.

Geremie Barme of the Australian National University, who has studied past National Day parades, said the displays are typically aimed at the domestic audience: Communist party officials and ordinary Chinese. "It is meant to educate, excite, unite and entertain. If a tad of 'shock and awe' is delivered around the world, all well and good," he said.