Eighty-four percent of the 500 pieces of equipment on show in China's Thursday military parade commemorating the end of WWII were displayed in public for the first time. [Special coverage]
A host of latest armaments ranging from intercontinental ballistic missiles to medium-long range bombers were rolled out in the parade.
Among them were the latest version of the J-15 carrier-based fighter jets, H-6K bombers, the Dongfeng-5B intercontinental strategic missiles and the Dongfeng-21D anti-ship ballistic missile described by some media as the "carrier killer."
Chinese military officers have said that the new armaments, also including modern tanks, missile-launchers and drones, represent the "new development, new achievements and new images of the building of the Chinese armed forces."
People's Liberation Army (PLA) senior commander Li Guangbin said that many of the weaponry on display are top notch in the world.
It is an international practice in military parade to display new weapon system. China has unveiled its most advanced weaponry during many of its past 14 military parades in Beijing, including the Dongfeng-31, the country's intercontinental ballistic missile, in 1999.
National Defense University professor Qiao Liang said that the display of armaments has shown China's national defense and military achievements as well as the PLA's determination and ability to defend the country's sovereignty and territory.
Twenty-seven armament formations processed through the Tian'anmen Square in central Beijing during the parade.
The event came nearly seven decades after the first military parade of the People's Republic of China, where most weaponry displayed had been outdated, including tanks seized from the defeated Japanese army during the WWII.
Beijing staged the last military parade in 2009 to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic.
The Sept. 3 military parade is the first time for the world's second largest economy to mark the anniversary of the victory in the WWII.
The parade, which involves 12,000 Chinese soldiers, marks the 70th anniversary of the victory of Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
