BEIJING: To the sound of Shakira’s Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) robots demonstrated their dance steps, screaming recruits drilled with bayonets and tanks rolled as China’s military offered a rare moment of openness Tuesday.

The exposition, held at the Armoured Forces Engineering Academy in Beijing, was touted by senior People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officials as an opportunity to burnish civilian-military and international ties ahead of Army Day, the August 1 commemoration of the Communist-led army’s founding.

“The most important thing is that we have mutual understanding,” Liu Degang, the academy’s vice president, said. “We undergo training just like every other country in the world. We also love peace. “A promotional guide for the event, described as the first of its kind at the academy that foreign media had been allowed to attend, noted that “cadets, instructors and commanders would like to be interviewed”.

Young soldiers chatted with reporters while showing off technological projects including drones and small Transformer-like robots in bright primary colours.

The dancing machines’ military purpose was not explained, but the opening lyrics of the Colombian singer’s 2010 World Cup anthem used as their backing track run: “You’re a good soldier/Choosing your battles/Pick yourself up and dust yourself off/And back in the saddle.

“You’re on the front line/Everyone’s watching/You know it’s serious, we’re getting closer/This isn’t over. “Hanging over the event’s convivial atmosphere were questions about China’s ballooning military spending, its tense relations with rival Japan and a much-publicised anti-graft campaign that has swept up one of the Chinese army’s most powerful officials.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd , 2014