Troops prepare for the military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on Tuesday in Beijing.
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Near Beijing's center, along Chang'an Avenue or the Avenue of Eternal Peace, more than 100,000 performers and soldiers readied for mass military parade that would unveil China's newest fighting technology, including a hypersonic missile and stealth fighter jets.
At promptly 10 a.m., the parade began with 70 rounds of cannon fire.
The event was the culmination of celebrations of the Chinese Communist Party's 70th year in power. Much of it was dedicated to showcasing military hardware; 160 aircraft flew overhead, while more than 600 tanks, missiles and other weapons systems slowly rolled past carefully selected onlookers throughout the morning.
"There is no force that can shape the foundation of this great nation and no force that can stop the Chinese people and the Chinese nation from getting ahead," Xi Jinping, China's top leader and party chairman, said in an opening speech. He framed the parade as a moment of triumph over the "humiliation" of foreign imperialism beginning with the Opium Wars of the mid-19th century.
Tuesday's celebrations were first and foremost a projection of military might, now technologically advanced enough to counter the U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region.
Since 2015, Xi has consolidated his direct control over China's now 2 million person-strong People's Liberation Army (PLA). An ambitious modernization effort trimmed the force by 300,000 and restructured its command system from seven to five zones. That allowed the PLA to streamline operations – and laid the foundations for Xi to purge three top generals in the following years.
Among the military hardware shown to the public for the first time: 16 of the long-anticipated Dongfeng-41, China's longest-range intercontinental ballistic missile, which is capable of reaching the United States with nuclear warheads. Onlookers were also given the first glimpse of the Dongfeng-17, a medium-range missile that can travel at hypersonic speeds with the aim of breaking through U.S. anti-missile shields.
Military vehicles equipped with the latest DF-41 ballistic missile roll by during the parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of Communist China in Beijing on Tuesday.
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Military analysts had closely monitored satellite images of Chinese military facilities and nearby traffic for signs of the missile being readied for display.
The Chinese military might be building a new type of missile silo at its new training area near Jilantai. Satellite images from @DigitalGlobe/@maxar show construction well underway. They also show dozens of new DF-41, DF-31AG, DF-26, and DF-21 launchers. https://t.co/kqLgTqGzyBpic.twitter.com/2R2qlQ3SUL
The pomp and circumstance of Beijing's celebrations were in stark contrast to another day of mass protests planned in the city of Hong Kong against Beijing's influence and for democratic reforms.
Police officers detain a pro-government supporter during clashes with demonstrators in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong on Tuesday.
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Protestors attempted to disrupt a flag-raising ceremony commemorating the anniversary earlier Tuesday morning, but the ceremony's participants continued by watching from inside an adjacent convention center. Several of Hong Kong's busiest metro stops were closed in anticipation of another day of mass protests, now in their 17th week. A march planned for the afternoon did not get permission from Hong Kong police, but protestors say they will convene anyway.
Xi's brief opening speech Tuesday included strong language reiterating Beijing's control over Hong Kong and the nearby island of Taiwan: "We will maintain long term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macau, advance peaceful development of cross strait relations, unite the whole country and continue to strive forward with complete unification of our country."
Hong Kong's embattled Chief Executive Carrie Lam was in Beijing as a guest of honor at the parade, seated overlooking Tiananmen Square in the second row of the box reserved for officials.
Beijing's parade was also an important show of party unity. Xi appeared flanked by the six other members of the powerful Communist Politburo standing committee.
He was also accompanied by his predecessors — Hu Jintao and 93-year-old Jiang Zemin, whose death has been frequently rumored. Jiang was very much alive, albeit held up by two assistants.
This general view shows a bridge after it collapsed in the Nanfangao fishing harbor in Suao township on October 1, 2019.
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Taipei, Taiwan — A towering arch bridge over a bay in eastern Taiwan collapsed Tuesday, sending an oil tanker truck falling onto boats in the water below. The search for potential victims involved an air force helicopter and more than 60 army and naval personnel, including divers.
Six people were believed trapped on one of the boats, the National Fire Agency said in a statement. Interior Minister Hsu Kuo-yung told reporters about five people were feared to have been on the bridge when it collapsed. Ten people were sent to hospitals, six of them with serious injuries.
Fishing vessels were helping to search for the missing, Hsu told Formosa TV.
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The bridge collapsed about 9:30 a.m. in Nanfangao, a tiny but often-crowded Pacific coast fishing village.
The weather at the time of the collapse was sunny, hours after a typhoon swept across parts of the island. Disaster relief officials would not say if the storm had weakened the bridge or give other details on the potential cause. Government-run Central News Agency said a bridge pier may have collapsed.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said she hoped all government departments would do everything possible to save people and "keep the number of deaths and injuries as low as possible," CNA reported.
National Fire Agency spokesperson Su Hong-wei said the tanker's fall smashed three boats.
Typhoon Mitag had brought high winds and heavy rain to northern Taiwan on Monday night before moving northeast. Flights and ferry services had been canceled Monday.
The 460-feet Nanfangao Bridge is a tourist attraction in Yilan. It was opened in 1998 and was built to replace a lower bridge that prevented large fishing vessels from passing underneath.
According to the company that designed the 18-meter-high (nearly 60 feet) high bridge, MAA Consultants, it's the only single-span arch bridge in Taiwan supported by cables and the second single arch-cable steel bridge in the world.
Video footage on Twitter showed a large truck almost getting across the bridge and then tumbling backward as the bridge collapsed into the water.
Separate attacks have targeted a US military base in the Somali town of Baledogle and a European military convoy in the capital, Mogadishu.
A bomb attack was followed by a gun battle at a base operated by US special forces on Monday, a security source told Reuters news agency.
The Somali armed group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack at the Balidogle base located in the Lower Shabelle region, about 100km (60 miles) west of Mogadishu.
"Two heavy explosions occurred, the first one bigger than the other. There was also a heavy exchange of gunfire after the blasts but we don't know about the details," Mohamed Adan, a Somali elder close to the scene of the attack, told AFP news agency by phone.
Al Jazeera's Malcolm Webb, reporting from neighbouring Kenya, said the first attack targeted the base, housing US troops and Somali soldiers, used to carry out drone attacks on the al-Shabab group.
In a separate incident, a security official said European Union (EU) advisers training the Somali National Army were attacked using a car bomb in Mogadishu.
Italy's defence ministry in a statement confirmed that an Italian military convoy was hit by an explosion.
No injuries have been reported so far, the defence ministry said.
"There was a car bomb targeting the EU military advisers along the industrial road. A vehicle loaded with explosive was rammed onto one of the convoy vehicles and there are casualties," said Omar Abikar, a Somali security officer.
Al Jazeera's Webb added that an improvised device was used to target the Italian convoy, which has been guarding the EU team.
The EU has been training the Somali national army, among other activities, he said.
"The attack happened as Mogadishu was under a lockdown due to a high-level meeting at the UN headquarters. And it's believed the convoy may have been coming to or from that meeting," Webb said, reporting from Nanyuki.
Al-Shabab extremists on Monday staged an attack on a US military base in Somalia, which is used to launch drone strikes.
A Somali official told the Associated Press that a suicide car bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives at the gate of a military airstrip which is a base for U.S. and Somali forces.
Yusuf Abdourahman, a security official with the Lower Shabelle regional administration, told the news agency that a burst of gunfire could be heard across the base after the bombing.
The terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack, the report said.
The U.S. military uses Belidogle airstrip in the Lower Shabelle region as a base where it launches drones that attack al-Shabab and trains Somali troops.
China has quietly doubled troop levels in Hong Kong, envoys say
There are now up to 12,000 Chinese troops in Hong Kong, diplomats tell Reuters. Among them are members of the People’s Armed Police, a paramilitary force that answers to Xi Jinping. If China moves to put down the protests in the city, they will likely do the job.
Last month, Beijing moved thousands of troops across the border into this restive city. They came in on trucks and armored cars, by bus and by ship.
The state news agency Xinhua described the operation as a routine “rotation” of the low-key force China has kept in Hong Kong since the city’s handover from Britain in 1997. No mention was made of the anti-government protests that have been shaking the metropolis since June.
It was a plausible report: China has maintained a steady level of force in the territory for years, regularly swapping troops in and out. And days earlier, according to an audio recording obtained by Reuters, embattled Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam had told local businesspeople that China had “absolutely no plan” to order the army to put down the demonstrations.
A month on, Asian and Western envoys in Hong Kong say they are certain the late-August deployment was not a rotation at all, but a reinforcement. Seven envoys who spoke to Reuters said they didn’t detect any significant number of existing forces in Hong Kong returning to the mainland in the days before or after the announcement.
Three of the envoys said the contingent of Chinese military personnel in Hong Kong had more than doubled in size since the protests began. They estimated the number of military personnel is now between 10,000 and 12,000, up from 3,000 to 5,000 in the months before the reinforcement.
As a result, the envoys believe, China has now assembled its largest-ever active force of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops and other anti-riot personnel and equipment in Hong Kong.
Chinese troops train (left) at the PLA’s Tam Mei base in Hong Kong in late September. The sign reads: “Emphasize politics; Highly value the mission; Strictly abide by the law and discipline; Pioneering excellence.” Armored vehicles (right) can be seen in the base. As part of last month’s reinforcement of troops in the city, the military brought in anti-riot vehicles including water cannons. REUTERS/James Pomfret
Chinese troops train (above) at the PLA’s Tam Mei base in Hong Kong in late September. The sign reads: “Emphasize politics; Highly value the mission; Strictly abide by the law and discipline; Pioneering excellence.” Armored vehicles (below) can be seen in the base. As part of last month’s reinforcement of troops in the city, the military brought in anti-riot vehicles including water cannons. REUTERS/James Pomfret
Significantly, five of the diplomats say, the build-up includes elements of the People’s Armed Police (PAP), a mainland paramilitary anti-riot and internal security force under a separate command from the PLA. While Reuters was unable to determine the size of the PAP contingent, envoys say the bulk of the troops in Hong Kong are from the PLA.
PAP forces would be likely to spearhead any crackdown if Beijing decides to intervene, according to foreign envoys and security analysts. These paramilitary troops are specially trained in non-lethal tactics and methods of riot suppression and crowd control.
The envoys declined to say how exactly they determined that the recent troop movement was a reinforcement or how they arrived at their troop estimates. Reuters reporters visited the areas surrounding multiple PLA bases in Hong Kong and observed significantly increased movements by troops and armored vehicles at the facilities.
China’s Ministry of National Defense, the State Council Information Office, and the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office did not respond to questions from Reuters. In early September, a spokeswoman for the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said China would "not sit idly by" if the situation in the city continued to deteriorate and posed a threat to "the country's sovereignty."
The office of Carrie Lam and the PLA garrison in Hong Kong also did not respond to questions. A Hong Kong police spokesperson told Reuters the police force was “capable of maintaining law and order and determined to restore public safety in Hong Kong.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during a meeting with international navy delegates to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PLA in the port city of Qingdao in April. REUTERS/Jason Lee
The PAP is a key element in Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s drive to reinforce the ruling Communist Party's control over the nation of 1.4 billion people while building a potent military that can supplant the United States as Asia’s dominant power. The PAP has up to one million troops, according to an April research paper from the U.S.’s National Defense University - about half the size of China’s standing military. The paramilitary’s primary duty is to defend against potential enemies within - countering domestic upheaval and protecting top leaders. In recent years, it has contained unrest in Xinjiang and Tibet. Elements of this force are also trained for counter-terrorism, securing key infrastructure, disaster relief and international peacekeeping.
After installing himself as commander-in-chief and reshaping the regular military, Xi turned attention to the PAP. His first move was to take personal control. In early 2018, the PAP was brought under direct command of the Central Military Commission, the top military decision-making body that Xi chairs. Previously, the PAP had come under the split command of the commission and the State Council, China’s top government administrative body.
This put Xi at the apex of Beijing’s military and paramilitary forces, further concentrating power in his hands. With the eruption of the protests in Hong Kong, however, Xi now faces the biggest popular challenge to his rule.
News of the reinforcements in Hong Kong comes as city officials are bracing for more demonstrations on Tuesday, Oct. 1, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Intense clashes between protesters and police rocked the city over the weekend ahead of the celebrations.
In her private remarks in August, city Chief Executive Lam played down the possibility that Beijing might deploy the PLA. Foreign envoys and security analysts said they too believe China’s strong preference is not to use troops.
Still, they said, the troop build-up shows Beijing wants to be ready to act if the Hong Kong government and its 30,000-strong police force lose control of the city. Lam herself expressed concern about the force’s ability to keep control. On some days, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets. She said the police are “outnumbered” by the protesters, making enforcement “extremely difficult.”
“Apart from the 30,000 men and women in the force we have nothing,” she told the gathering of businesspeople. “Really. We have nothing. I have nothing.”
Enforcing Xi’s ‘Red Line’
Until now, the PAP’s presence in Hong Kong has been limited to a small advance detachment nestled discreetly within existing PLA facilities, according to one of the diplomats. The new deployment marks the first significant entry of the PAP into Hong Kong. It wasn’t mentioned in official accounts of the rotation nor in the state-controlled press.
The combined deployment of the PLA and the PAP follows months of official statements denouncing the protests and dramatic signaling to Hong Kongers. This included news reports and footage showing anti-riot drills by both the PLA and the PAP, released by the military on social media. Last month, hundreds of PAP troops conducted extensive exercises in a football stadium in Shenzhen, just north of Hong Kong. Troops in the area could also be deployed to Hong Kong if the crisis deepened, foreign diplomats said.
In a show of force last month, People’s Armed Police vehicles and troops massed in a football stadium in Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong. Troops (right) could be seen conducting riot drills. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
In a show of force last month, People’s Armed Police vehicles and troops massed in a football stadium in Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong. Troops (below) could be seen conducting riot drills. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
The protests and street violence in Hong Kong erupted in early June, over a bill - since scrapped - that would have paved the way for people to be extradited to the mainland. The unrest came two years after Xi defined a “red line” for Hong Kong. He used the phrase in a 2017 speech in the city, warning that domestic threats to national sovereignty will not be tolerated.
Chinese security forces are better equipped to handle civil unrest than they were a generation ago. In 1989, it was the PLA that was sent in to smash student protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. It used the tools of war - battle tanks, armored vehicles and infantry.
In Hong Kong, the reinforcement includes equipment tailor-made for quelling urban violence with non-lethal force – including water cannon vehicles and trucks used to lay barbed-wire barricades. Additional transport helicopters have been moved into the city. Reuters reporters have seen these flying frequently around Hong Kong and its hinterlands, the New Territories, an observation confirmed by foreign envoys and security analysts monitoring developments here.
Anti-government protesters are sprayed with a water cannon by local police during a demonstration near the government complex in Hong Kong in mid-September. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Other trucks, bearing military number plates, have been seen pre-loaded with street fortifications, at times moving about the city. Reuters reporters have tracked increased activity at many of the PLA’s 17 facilities across Hong Kong Island, its neighboring city of Kowloon and the rural New Territories. Most of these facilities were inherited by the PLA under agreement with the departing British forces during the 1997 handover.
Fatigues and other laundry can be seen hanging from the balconies of buildings that had lain dormant for years. Army buses and jeeps are parked in once abandoned lots.
A petrol bomb is thrown during a clash between pro-democracy protesters and Hong Kong riot police in the district of Tsuen Wan last month. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Some foreign analysts say China’s reinforced military presence was bigger than expected and appears to have been well-prepared. They say the size of the force means it is now far beyond the symbolic role traditionally played by the local garrison.
“They do seem to have an active contingency plan to deal with something like a total breakdown in order by the Hong Kong police,” said Alexander Neill, a Singapore-based security analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “I would think it would take something like that or some other worst-case scenario for them to deploy. But they are clearly more ready than before, and are leaving nothing to chance.”
So far, the expanded Chinese forces remain firmly within their barracks – a continuation of what has been an unobtrusive presence since the handover.
In 1997, trucks full of white-gloved PLA soldiers, some carrying flowers, rolled into Hong Kong within hours of Britain’s handover of its colony to Chinese rule. The sight sparked anxiety among politicians, activists and the public that still lingers. Beyond the occasional so-called open day, when the public gets access to the PLA barracks, the troops rarely interact with ordinary Hong Kongers.
Unlike forces on the mainland, soldiers within the Hong Kong garrison are not usually accompanied by their families. They are rarely allowed to socialize outside their bases; for news, they are given access to China’s state media.
“They live like monks,” said one Hong Kong-based mainland security specialist familiar with local PLA forces. “It is a vastly different deployment to anything on the mainland – almost akin to something they might experience on peacekeeping duties in Africa.”
“The PAP can be seen as a blunt instrument with the key function of suppressing domestic unrest.”
The local Chinese security presence must be squared with handover guarantees that Hong Kong’s autonomy would remain for at least 50 years - including broad freedoms and an independent judiciary, which don’t exist in the rest of China.
Under the city’s mini-constitution, known as the Basic Law, defense and foreign affairs are the sole responsibility of the Communist Party leadership in Beijing. The document states that the PLA garrison “shall not interfere in local affairs,” but Hong Kong can request the garrison’s assistance to maintain public order. And garrison members must abide by local laws.
Chinese law, meanwhile, allows for the standing committee of China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, to deploy the garrison if a state of war or emergency is declared for Hong Kong. The law cites “turmoil” that threatens national security and is “beyond the control of the (Hong Kong) government.”
One presence, two forces
The PLA garrison is commanded by Major-General Chen Daoxiang, who is shadowed by a political commissar, Major-General Cai Yongzhong. But neither officer, nor territory leader Lam, would have the authority to deploy the security forces. Any military clampdown on China’s freest and most international city would only be ordered by Xi’s powerful Central Military Commission, say local officials and foreign diplomats.
In June, garrison commander Chen told a visiting Pentagon official that Chinese troops would not interfere in the city’s affairs, according to people briefed on the discussion. U.S. officials at the time said they read the comment as an early signal that Beijing intended to keep them in their barracks.
PLA soldiers take part in a performance during an open day at Stonecutters Island Naval Base in Hong Kong in June. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Less is known about the command structure of the PAP forces in Hong Kong. Few residents of the city are even aware of their presence within existing PLA facilities.
From the early years of its revolutionary struggle against the Nationalists, the Chinese Communist Party fielded a range of paramilitary forces to guard the leadership and key headquarters. These forces assumed an internal security role after the Communists took power in 1949. The PAP was formed in 1982, as the paramount leader of the time, Deng Xiaoping, modernized and downsized the military after the Cultural Revolution. The PAP absorbed thousands of regular army troops.
Still, the PAP was poorly trained and equipped, with a fragmented command, when the 1989 Tiananmen protests threatened the party’s grip. China’s leaders had to call on army units to crush the protests with tanks and machine guns. The scenes of bloodshed on the streets of the Chinese capital were a blow to the party’s reputation. In the aftermath, the leadership reequipped and retrained the PAP in crowd-control operations.
Chinese soldiers and tanks guard the Gate of Heavenly Peace and the portrait of Mao Zedong in Tiananmen Square in 1989, during the crushing of student protests by the military. REUTERS/Richard Ellis
Security analysts say the PAP’s budget has grown as the force has modernized, but figures are undisclosed. The government stopped revealing full domestic security spending numbers in 2014 - after the internal security budget had topped the fast-growing regular military budget for the previous three years.
In the restive region of Xinjiang, the PAP has been used heavily to counter what China describes as a terrorist threat from Uighurs, an ethnic Muslim minority. As many as a million Uighurs and Muslims from other ethnic groups have been incarcerated in prison camps, according to the United Nations. China counters that the facilities are vocational training centers to help stamp out religious extremism and teach new work skills.
PAP recruits take part in a political education theory assessment in the city of Kashgar in the western region of Xinjiang in January. REUTERS/Stringer
PAP members stand in formation during an oath-taking rally in Kashgar in 2017. REUTERS/Stringer
Paramilitary police participate in a drill at an anti-terrorism training base in Xinjiang in 2018. REUTERS/Stringer
“The PAP can be seen as a blunt instrument with the key function of suppressing domestic unrest,” said Trevor Hollingsbee, a retired British defense ministry intelligence analyst who served as a Hong Kong security official until 1997. “Their role has been streamlined and their command sharpened under Xi.”
The PAP also has been active in southern China, close to Hong Kong. PAP riot police have been sent to quell factory strikes and other labor unrest in the Pearl River Delta, one of China’s key manufacturing areas.
In 2011, before Xi came to power, PAP troops were deployed as part of the clampdown on Wukan. The southern coastal village drew international attention when residents threw up barricades against local authorities to protest land seizures. In a rare climbdown, the provincial government eventually dissolved the old village committee and allowed free elections. Many protest leaders were voted into office.
When fresh protests broke out in 2016, over a failure to resolve the land issues and other grievances, the PAP and other security forces were sent in again. This time, the response was harsher.
A villager makes a speech in front of the residents of Wukan in 2016. Protests in the village against land seizures were quelled by PAP and other forces. REUTERS/James Pomfret
Video footage of the clashes was shown by villagers to a Reuters reporter who reached the area soon after the protests erupted. It showed locals hurling bricks at ranks of shield-carrying riot police. The troops used tear gas, rubber bullets and batons. No deaths were reported. But a Reuters reporter on the scene observed several injured villagers, some with bloody head wounds.
In Hong Kong, Chinese military forces have been conducting anti-riot drills in their bases in recent weeks. Reuters reporters viewed one drill in late September from a public road near the PLA base in rural Tam Mei. They saw helmeted Chinese troops undergoing exercises, some armed with rifles, shields and batons. Inside the base were dozens of camouflaged armored personnel carriers, command jeeps, large bulldozers and trucks.
Reuters and foreign diplomats have also seen extra forces at the PLA headquarters in central Hong Kong, next to local government offices in the city’s Admiralty district. Protests have broken out repeatedly just meters from the PLA compound. Amid attempts by police to secure the area, protesters have at times hurled petrol bombs near the headquarters’ granite walls. Clouds of police tear gas have wafted into the compound.
So far, though, protesters haven’t targeted PLA bases directly, even as they have vandalized the national flag and other symbols of Chinese sovereignty.
“We don’t mess with the People’s Liberation Army,” said Leo Wong, a young protester, standing near the PLA headquarters during a late-September demonstration. “If we attacked the PLA, anything could happen. It’s too risky.”
Al-Shabab extremists on Monday staged an attack on a US military base in Somalia, which is used to launch drone strikes.
A Somali official told the Associated Press that a suicide car bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives at the gate of a military airstrip which is a base for U.S. and Somali forces.
Yusuf Abdourahman, a security official with the Lower Shabelle regional administration, told the news agency that a burst of gunfire could be heard across the base after the bombing.
The terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack, the report said.
The U.S. military uses Belidogle airstrip in the Lower Shabelle region as a base where it launches drones that attack al-Shabab and trains Somali troops.
Pedestrians wait to cross a road in front of a floral installation celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing. Streets have been cleaned and security increased before the Oct. 1 holiday.
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Major streets have been cordoned off for hours at a time, leaving restaurant and bar-goers stranded overnight. Bomb-sniffing dogs stand guard on busy corners. Teams of hawk-eyed retirees sporting red arm bands patrol the sidewalks as part of volunteer neighborhood watch committees, ready to report the smallest sign ofa challenge to public security.
Normally, Beijing is an oasis of calm during the annual Golden Week holiday that begins on Oct. 1. But this year is different: not only is China preparing to celebrate an important milestone — the 70th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party's rule, but it is doing so at a particularly turbulent time of economic uncertainty and testing of its authority.
With this year's celebrations, China officially surpasses the longevity of that other great communist power, the Soviet Union, which collapsed in 1991 amid a wave of liberalizing reforms that outstripped Moscow's control.
Challenges, at home and abroad
China is anxious not to share the USSR's fate, but onthe eve of its birthday, the People's Republic of China is encountering significant headwinds at home and abroad.
The celebrations — which will include a military parade involving 15,000 troops and showcasing some 160 war planes and 580 tanks and other weapons — are being billed as a key moment in China's history of triumphing over foreign invasion and imperialism. They are also being used as an opportunity to project strength as the People's Republic faces increasing dissent to a more aggressive, centralized form of rule under President Xi Jinping.
"[The party] faces the colossal task of ensuring that the expectation of the people for a better life is satisfied. After all, this is one of the main pillars of the Communist Party's legitimacy," says Adam Ni, a China analyst at Macquarie University in Sydney.
Domestically, structural economic challenges are accumulating. China's economy is growing at its slowest pace in nearly 30 years – exacerbated in no small measure by a recalcitrant trade war with the United States and a swine flu epidemic that has caused prices of pork to soar.
Meanwhile, months of protests in Hong Kong, which have frequently devolved into running street battles, are seeking less interference from Beijing. They come as a direct challenge to China's authority over the territory and a potentially embarrassing retort to the aura of control its hoping to foster.
Nearby, the United States has beefed up military support for Taiwan, which China has vowed to "reunify" — by force, if necessary. China is also coming in for increasing international criticism over its mass detention and surveillance of Muslim ethnic minorities, particularly Uighurs in the western region of Xinjiang.
Promoting party unity
Xi faces no immediate threat of losing his position as chairman of the party. He has four years left on his second term and a constitutional amendment passed last year allows him to remain president for life. But signs of discontent among party ranks could hamper his ability to enact policy.
Tuesday's military parade, featuring a speech by Xi, will be a demand for unity as he and his supporters address these issues and potential dissatisfaction within the party's ranks.
The anniversary celebrations "are a call to arms given the domestic and foreign policy difficulties facing the party," says Willy Wo-lop Lam, an elite Chinese politics expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
"In his speech, Xi Jinping will emphasize the fact that only the Communist Party can unite China and lead China to greater glories," Lam says.
Xi has framed this week's celebrations with a series of carefully choreographed events designed to maximize his political messaging that the Chinese Communist Party is central to China's well-being.
Earlier this month, he warned young cadres in an opening speech at the Party School of CPC Central Committee of "a series of major risks and tests the country faces, adding that maintaining a fighting spirit and strengthening the ability to struggle is a must in meeting the targets set by the Party," according to state news agency Xinhua. Throughout his speech, Xi repeatedly referenced "the ability to struggle," a phrase from the era of China's founding communist ruler, Mao Zedong, thatinvokes revolution and ideological purity.
Last week, while other world leaders gathered at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York City, Xi was leading an internal meeting of the party's powerful Politburo. The reason for the meeting was to stress that the party "must vigorously carry forward the spirit of patriotism and carry out patriotism education."
Xi's message of unity and strength is aimed as much at international audiences as its own citizens and apparatchiks. Next week, China's top trade negotiator, Liu He, will head to Washington D.C. for the 13th round of trade talks with the United States.
"The Chinese government is serving a warning to Washington that in the course of the trade talks, China willnot be bullied and ...will not succumb to threats and intimidation from the U.S.," Lam says.
Muscle flexing
China is also eager to demonstrate that it now has the military hardware to back up its growing ambitions. The parade Tuesday morning will include weaponry never before seen in public, according to China's defense ministry.
Military analysts speculate that the Dongfeng-41, the newest version of a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S., will be unveiled. Such weaponry would allow the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to better project power across the Asia-Pacific, countering U.S. interests in the region.
"In relative terms, the U.S. military is still far more advanced than the PLA," says Macquarie University's Ni. "But the PLA is closing the gap across a whole spectrum of capabilities, and this is eroding the U.S. military advantage in Asia."
"China more so than ever is now able to deter ...the U.S. from intervening in regional scenarios, such as with respect to Taiwan and South China Sea," Ni says.
The gravity of the 70th anniversary has been underscored in the last month by a series of intense security checks, including forcing residents whose buildings are close to the planned parade route to leave home for sometimes days at a time for building security checks.
The Communist Party's efforts to make sure no mishaps occurextends to the airspace directly above Beijing as well. Beijing municipal authorities have forbidden residents to release everything from balloons to homing pigeons, popular with Beijing residents who often raise the birds in apartment stairwells and alleyway rooftops.
An uneasy legacy
Abroad, China's foreign ministry has held spin-off events from Brussels to Vancouver celebrating the 70th anniversary of Communist governance with overseas Chinese citizens.
But those born and raised in China and now living abroad say they struggle with the legacy of the Chinese Communist Party, particularly as Xi has intensified ideological and political control over academia, business and policy.
Yangyang Cheng, a particle physicist and writer now based in the U.S., tells NPR that she feels uncomfortable with state projections of Chinese identity.
"The identity is becoming flattened, becoming hollowed out because of how the state is trying to redefine it, control it for its political ends," says Cheng, who recently wrote an essay about her connections to China on the eve of the 70th anniversary.
According to Beijing officials, she says, "There is only one correct way to be Chinese" as China tries to "forcefully mold ethnic minority identities to be closer to that of the Han Chinese."
"I often wonder how... I can celebrate something like October 1 with a straight face—given that the regime it represents spent so much of its 70-year history laying waste to everything I hold dear about China's culture and history," Taisu Zhang, a professor at Yale Law School, wrote to NPR in an email, explaining his conflicting feelings of solidarity and simultaneous repulsion at China's rise.
"In the end, all of these contradictions are inevitably part of what it means to be Chinese today, which is something that I cannot, and do not want to, escape," he said.
