China: President Xi Jinping inspects troops during military's 90th anniversary parade

Beijing: Chinese president Xi Jinping on Sunday inspected a massive military parade at the country’s largest military base in Zhurihe in Inner Mongolia as part of the celebrations to mark the 90th founding anniversary of the 2.3 million-strong People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Clad in camouflage military suit, 64-year-old Xi stood in an open-roof jeep that drove slowly past formations of troops as military music was being played through loudspeaker. [caption id=“attachment_3872147” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PLA, the world’s largest army marches in China on Sunday. AP[/caption] Xi heads the central military commission, which holds the overall command of the PLA, the world’s largest army. The event was broadcast live by state-run TV and Radio. The PLA was founded on 1 August, 1927 when the ruling CPC under the leadership of Mao Zedong carried on with his national liberation movement. It is one of the rare national armies which still continues to function under the leadership of the CPC and not the Chinese government. About 12,000 troops took part in the parade in which 129 aircraft and 571 pieces of equipment were on display. Dongfeng missiles which include short, long and medium rage of rockets, variety of armoury including light tanks, drones were also deployed. Helicopter borne troops demonstrated in quick landing and taking combat positions. The parade was held in the backdrop of over month long standoff between Indian and Chinese troops at Doka La in Sikkim section. Besides Doka La, China is also concerned by the situation in North Korea and the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) missile by US in South Korea much to the opposition of the Beijing.