China's 'peace parade' rolls out 10,000 troops and Taiwan-ready missiles

China may not have fought a war for more than four decades, but yesterday's vast military parade through Tiananmen Square showed how relentlessly it has been preparing for one. Despite Xi Jinping's peace rhetoric, proclaiming that "the peaceful development of humanity will definitely win out", the display told a different story: batteries of nuclear missiles, hypersonic "carrier killers" and stealth drones built for a future fight over Taiwan.

Seated beside Xi were Russia's Vladimir Putin, North Korea's Kim Jong-un and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, underlining the bloc of authoritarian allies who now present themselves as a counterweight to the West. Former UK diplomat and China expert Matthew Henderson said the message was unmistakable. "There's no diplomacy anymore. It's basically: don't screw with me or I'll blow you up."

continues...

Many of the systems unveiled were designed to strike at the heart of US and Western naval power.

The YJ-20 hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missile, dubbed an "aircraft carrier killer", combines ballistic missile speed with cruise-like manoeuvrability to overwhelm defences.

Two other new weapons - the YJ-19 scramjet-powered missile and the YJ-15 ramjet anti-ship weapon - underscored Beijing's push into high-speed strike technology.

In the skies, China paraded the KJ-600 airborne early-warning aircraft, its first carrier-borne AWACS, purpose-built for the new Fujian carrier.

With a radar dome and folding wings echoing the US Navy's Hawkeye, it extends the reach of Chinese carrier groups across the Pacific.

Alongside it flew the KJ-500A, an upgraded radar aircraft able to track 100 targets while refuelling in flight.

Four new stealth drones also made their debut. Larger and more advanced than previous designs, they are intended to operate with manned fighters, using artificial intelligence to swarm targets and make rapid strike decisions.

Henderson, who served with the Foreign Office in China and Hong Kong for 30 years, said the combination of systems amounted to an open challenge to the West.

"This is an act of defiance - the new world order in the making. It looks like hypersonic missiles, it looks like laser weapons, it looks like swarms of drones. And Ukraine is their active test ground."

Nuclear systems were also prominent.

The JL-3 submarine-launched ballistic missile, able to strike the US mainland from waters close to China, made its parade debut. It was joined by the new DF-61 intercontinental ballistic missile, believed to be China's most advanced after the DF-41, and the DF-31BJ road-mobile ICBM. The upgraded DF-5C, capable of carrying up to ten warheads, also rumbled through the square.

On land, the Type 99B main battle tank appeared for the first time. Building on earlier models used in exercises on the Tibetan plateau, the variant is fitted with active protection radars and lasers to counter missiles and drones.

continues...

Xi's short speech struck a softer note, paying tribute to China's wartime sacrifices and insisting that Beijing stood on "the right side of history". He invoked familiar slogans about a "shared destiny of humanity" and "peaceful development" - yet all around him the symbols of war power told a different tale.

Former diplomat Charles Parton said: "Back in 2015 the CCP openly declared the parade was 'to demonstrate China's military strength'. Today it's all about peace and the contrast with the language coming out of America. China is being represented as the responsible power in the world, in order to set themselves apart from the West."

The display carried strong symbolism. Veterans of China's Communist revolution were honoured, while military units carried banners recalling wartime campaigns. Some 10,000 troops marched in total, underscoring the scale of the spectacle. On the rostrum, Xi's chosen guests - Putin and Kim - represented regimes whose nuclear weapons underpin Beijing's challenge to Washington. The guest list also underlined the limits of Beijing's alliance network. While Iran was represented by its president, Masoud Pezeshkian, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stayed away - a move seen as reflecting security concerns after recent clashes with Israel.

Donald Trump also made his presence felt, posting on Truth Social: "Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, as you conspire against the United States of America."

Henderson argued that the parade was designed not only to impress at home but to send a clear warning abroad. "Literally, how many of the cavalry are going to make it over the seas in time to stop our hypersonics taking out their aircraft carriers? In a week it would be finished," he said.

China's armed forces are racing to complete their "centennial goals" of modernisation before 2027, a deadline Xi has linked directly to preparations for Taiwan. While he insists reunification will be peaceful if possible, he has never ruled out force.

Henderson said: "China will project confidence, saying: we are your enemy. And if we don't wake up and treat them as such - not by fighting, but by countering their corrosive influence - then we are more stupid than they even think. If it looks like an enemy and acts like an enemy, it is an enemy."