Chinese president oversees military parade in show of might

BEIJING, China — Chinese President Xi Jinping is overseeing a large-scale military parade in a show of China’s fighting prowess.

Live state television broadcasts on Sunday showed Xi, dressed in fatigues and speaking from an open-top jeep, telling his troops that China needed a strong military “more than ever” as it moved “closer to the goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”

Xi inspected troops, armored vehicles and conventional and nuclear missiles, hailing each formation by shouting “Comrades, you’re working hard!” as it rumbled past.

In this photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops march past military vehicles Sunday, July 30, 2017 as they arrive for a military parade to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the PLA on Aug. 1 at Zhurihe training base in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Zha Chunming/Xinhua via AP)

The parade at the Zhurihe military training base in China’s Inner Mongolia region marked the 90th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army’s founding.

Xi has carried out an ambitious modernization program to make the PLA a leaner force capable of projecting power far from China’s shores. CBB/rga