Beijing  - China showed off much of its latest military hardware Thursday in a parade to mark the 60th anniversary of Communist Party rule, including long-range missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads.

Among the missiles identified by China Central Television was the Dongfeng-31A, an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear warhead and reportedly capable of reaching a target up to 11,000 kilometres away.

The state broadcaster said the 8,000 People's Liberation Army and paramilitary troops who took part in the parade along with their hundreds of vehicles, planes and missiles were key elements in China's "steel Great Wall."

The military parade showcased 52 types of weapons systems, including battle tanks, anti-aircraft guns, drones, attack helicopters, third-generation J-10 fighter planes and early-warning aircraft.

Senior Colonel Zhang Guangzhong, who led the 2nd Artillery's nuclear missile formation in the parade, said his troops had taken delivery in 2007 of new nuclear missiles with "quicker response, longer range and enhanced maneuverability."

Research and development of strategic nuclear missiles "represents the highest level of the country's homegrown weapons," the official Xinhua news agency quoted Zhang as saying.

"Many of our domestically made arms have been produced on the basis of technologies and experience of developed countries, but China has chosen a completely independent way in developing strategic nuclear weapons," Zhang said.

The agency quoted army headquarters as praising nuclear missiles as its "trump card" and noted that President Hu Jintao had recently reiterated China's "no first strike" policy.

Among more than a dozen other missile systems identified in the parade were Dongfeng 21C medium-range ballistic missiles, Dongfeng 15B and Dongfeng 11A short-range missiles, Hongqi coastal defence and ship-to-air missiles, and Hongqi 12 surface-to-air missiles.

Xinhua quoted Defence Minister Liang Guanglie as saying last month that China was already close to matching Western nations in military technology.

"We have military-use satellites; advanced fighter aircraft in the air; newly designed tanks, cannons and missiles on land; and advanced naval vessels and submarines at sea," Liang said.

"Much of our weaponry has reached or come close to the world-leading standards," he was quoted as saying.

The army saw its first large military parade in 10 years as a "sacred mission" so important that the participating soldiers spent five months training for the event.

With an arsenal of nuclear missiles and a navy with an increasingly visible presence in the disputed waters of South-East Asia, many Western analysts see China's heavy military investment as pursuing rapid parity with the United States, which Chinese military leaders still see as their main adversary.

"For the international society ... to see China becoming strong, they may feel a little nervous," Song Xiaojun, a Beijing-based commentator on military affairs, told the German Press Agency dpa before the parade.

But Song argued that by strengthening the army, China was only seeking a "normal balance" between its robust economic interests and a relatively weak military.

"For example, every year, [China] has some crude oil and iron ore transportation by sea, but actually, it cannot afford security protection for this, so the military power, which should support its security interests, is far from enough," Song said.