China parade: In a warning to the West, China shows off cutting-edge drone fighter aircraft

China’s military parade in Beijing today included remotely piloted fighter aircraft so new that they are not in service and were likely included as a warning to the US and its allies that defending Taiwan against an invasion would be enormously costly, analysts said.

The hour-and-a-half parade of thousands of soldiers and hundreds of combat vehicles, aircraft and even ships through Tiananmen Square, while watched by an unsmiling Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, was seen around the world as the greatest display of Chinese military technology in history.

The weapons displayed included the supersonic DF-21, the world’s first anti-aircraft carrier missile, and fighter drones designed to operate as wingmen for manned jet fighters that are at the forefront of military technology.

“Their message to the world is: China wants peace and China does not want to be messed with,” said former Australian military intelligence officer Alan Dupont. “If you mess with us, you’ll be in serious trouble.”

Alongside 26 foreign heads of state watching from Tiananmen Tower, known as “the gate of heavenly peace”, was former Victorian Labor premier Daniel Andrews, who was criticised by his own party for participating in what some Western critics regarded as a propaganda exercise designed to intimidate the West from defending Taiwan.

The parade commemorated the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Japan in World War II, which Australia and other allies celebrate on August 15, the day Japanese emperor Hirohito and his government surrendered.

On streets that witnessed the massacre of democracy activists in 1989, China demonstrated it possesses the equipment of modern warfare: intercontinental ballistic missiles, anti-aircraft laser guns, cyber-defence trucks and the world’s leading drone technology, from imitation dogs to remotely operated ships.

“Justice will prevail,” Mr Xi said in a short speech that emphasised the Chinese Communist Party’s right to rule the nation of 1.4 billion people. “Peace will prevail. The people will prevail.”

Ambo no show

As one of the few Western politicians to attend, Mr Andrews was given prominence. He shook Mr Xi’s hand on an official receiving line and was placed in the back row of an official portrait of world leaders in attendance. Others in the photo included Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, who was on his first recorded trip to China in six years.

Former foreign minister Bob Carr went to Beijing too, although he said he skipped the parade for a meeting nearby. “I’m enjoying tea with Southeast Asian and Beijing-based European diplomats exploring impact of Trump policy erraticism on the region and ideas on Australia’s role,” he wrote on X.

Despite the Albanese Government’s friendly relationship with Beijing, the military display was seen as too aggressive to warrant sending any representatives. Ambassador Scott Dewar scheduled an appearance at a business event 2000km away, according to The Australian. The embassy sent junior diplomats.

“I respect Dan, I respect Bob, but I think they’ve just gone the next level,” former Labor Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told Sky News. “Go there for a holiday, do your business talks, but there’s no need to attend this military parade.”

Former Australian general Mick Ryan wrote on the same site: “China has assembled a grouping of the world’s most brutal dictators to help celebrate the end of WW2 in Beijing today ... along with two former Australian premiers.”

Goose steps

China’s largest military parade, held under a cloudless sky, featured goose-stepping male and female soldiers so well choreographed that artillerymen who fired 80 salutes held their heads upright and did not look down when loading their cannons.

Wearing a plain Mao suit, Mr Xi stood in an open-topped limousine as it drove past thousands of soldiers.

“Comrades, you are working hard,” he said.

“Follow the party! Fight to win! Forge exemplary conduct,” they replied, according to a New York Times translation.

Mr Xi’s car then turned around and drove back past the same soldiers to the mausoleum, where he, other dignitaries and 50,000 spectators watched as vehicles drove past and aircraft flew overhead. The parade ended with the mass release of balloons.

Fighting over Taiwan

Military analyst Sam Roggeveen said the Chinese government had not shown its drone fighter aircraft in public before. The parade’s emphasis on home-made missiles demonstrated that it would be dangerous for the US to fly aircraft near Taiwan if a war erupted, he said, which even sceptics of Australia’s alliance with the US have said is possible in coming years.

“We’re already at the point where it would be so costly for the US to intervene in a conflict over Taiwan that they may be deterred from doing so,” he said.

Through the AUKUS nuclear-submarine alliance with the US, Australia is participating in an effort to prevent China becoming the dominant military power in the Western Pacific, analysts say.

Critics of the alliance say it could draw Australia into a war with China. Advocates of the alliance, including the Labor Government, argue it could help protect Australia’s maritime trade routes with Japan, South Korea and elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific region.

In a sarcastic online post, US President Donald Trump accused Mr Xi of conspiring with Russia and North Korea against the US. “Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-un, as you conspire against The United States of America,” he wrote on TruthSocial.

The US is in a state of semi-warfare with Russia and North Korea by providing extensive military aid to Ukraine, which is fighting a bloody war against Russian and North Korean soldiers.