China marks 70 years of communist rule with military parade

China celebrated its growing power and confidence with a big display of military hardware and goose-stepping troops in Beijing on Tuesday, overseen by President Xi Jinping who pledged peaceful development on Communist China’s 70th birthday. (AP)

The event is the country’s most important of the year as it looks to project its assurance in the face of mounting challenges, including nearly four months of anti-government protests in Hong Kong and an economy-sapping trade war with the United States. (Reuters)

Xi, dressed in a slate gray “Mao” suit and accompanied by his predecessors Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, said China would pursue a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up. (Reuters)

Among the weapons on display were DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missiles, the backbone of China’s nuclear deterrence, which can carry several nuclear warheads and reach as far as the United States. (Reuters)

After the military parade, dancers and floats lauding China’s history, achievements and its regions passed by, along with portraits of China’s previous leaders and Xi himself, which got loud cheers. (Reuters)

The upheavals of the last seven decades — including the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution and bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators at Tiananmen Square in 1989 - did not get a mention. (Reuters)