Beijing: In recent years, Chinese military strategists have increasingly bemoaned the onset of the "peace disease", the idea that a lack of live combat experience over the past three decades has weakened the ability of China's troops to fight and win wars.

Western military hawks have pointed to this as evidence that their Chinese counterparts are itching for a fight; that its brinkmanship in the East Sea and South China Sea could easily escalate into conflict, whether through miscalculation or overreach.

What China does or doesn't do will determine to a great extent what happens with the global economy in months ahead, Citi bank analysts say. Credit:AP

The massive public parade of tanks, missiles and goose-stepping soldiers set to roll through the heart of Beijing on Thursday morning will do little to assuage the view that China is increasingly keen to project itself as a major military power, growing fast in both capability and ambition.

Beijing is billing the parade as a commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, but most Western leaders have shunned the event.