China flaunts its missile arsenal

Military watchers around the world eagerly anticipated China’s Sept. 3 military parade to commemo-rate the 70th anniversary of the surrender of Japan and the end of World War II. The parade was the largest since at least 2009, when the Chinese Communist Party celebrated 60 years in power. Consider-ing that China is a nation with a fast modernizing military, Stratfor watched the events closely, keeping an especially attentive eye out for the potential display of new weaponry and equipment.

China showed off a large number of cruise and ballistic missiles during the parade, highlighting the scale of its expanded missile arsenal. The designations of these missiles were written in non-Chinese characters, indicating that Beijing wanted to show the world its missile prowess.