Chinese Naval Parade: PLA Navy gears up for equipment, personnel modernization

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Today marks the first anniversary of China's largest-ever naval parade. The event was hailed as a display of the navy's development, in its drive to become a powerful force in defending the nation and maintaining world peace. This year, the Chinese Navy is going to celebrate its 70th anniversary on a multinational level. CGTN's Zheng Yibing has a preview.

A year ago, the Chinese Navy carried out one of its largest parades.

Sailing in groups showed their determination to build a world-class military.

XI JINPING CHINESE PRESIDENT "The Chinese navy must resolutely safeguard national rights and interests, and strive for more contributions to maintaining world and regional peace and stability."

The sea parade included the aircraft carrier 'Liaoning', with over 50 warships and more than 10,000 Navy personnel involved. Experts say that this symbolized the modernization of the Chinese navy.

YIN ZHUO PLA NAVAL EXPERT "The Chinese navy has started to engage in a combat formation with carrier groups, plus amphibian assault groups, and nuclear submarines. This is standard for sea powers. And, carriers mean we have a steady increase in combat capabilities far offshore."

This, according to experts, is the result of a 70-year development and has a consistent stance.

ZHENG YIBING BEIJING "Experts say that China has adopted a military policy that is defensive in nature, and will never deviate from it. And the build-up of a strong naval force will help the country continuously carry out the defensive strategy and contribute to marine peace."

Such efforts have been seen in the near-sea defense, and in peacekeeping missions like in Yemen.

ZHANG JUNSHE, VICE PRESIDENT NAVAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE "Our warships can evacuate our citizens in this area, and also will help us to better fulfill the peace-keeping missions."

With these, the Chinese navy's modernization and oceanic drills became routine.

The PLA Navy will celebrate its 70th anniversary on April 23, and multinational naval activities will be held in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao.

They will include a high-level seminar and an international fleet review. Over 60 countries are confirmed to participate, and multiple countries have confirmed that they'll send naval vessels to the international fleet review. Zheng Yibing, CGTN, Beijing.