BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Amid hearsay about China's plans for a big military parade, the Ministry of Defense announced Tuesday that the celebration of the 60th National Day of the People's Republic of China (PRC) will be a "warm but frugal and cost-effective" show of the most sophisticated current weapon systems.

The third of its scale since China adopted the reform and opening-up policy three decades ago, the dress parade of the Chinese armed forces under the command of President and Chairman of the Central Military Commission Hu Jintao is going to display home-grown on-duty weapon systems of all the services. In the last two parades in 1984 and 1999 respectively, paramount leader Deng Xiaoping and President Jiang Zemin reviewed troops representing millions of service people.

Such parades were frequent before 1984, with 11 parades in the 11 years after the PRC was founded on Oct. 1, 1949. It was suspended after 1959 until 1984 when Deng decided to resume the pageantry to rouse the nation on the track toward a liberalized economy.

The strategic missile forces, China's nuclear deterrent, were for the first time unveiled at the 1980 parade, which was followed by a stunning declaration of Deng, then chairman of the Central Military Commission, on the disarmament of one million People's Liberation Army (PLA) service people.

Although being held each year from 1949 to 1959, the parades were more about morale rather than equipment as the PRC was under the arms sanction and technology embargo implemented by Western countries.

Years after the rapprochement with the United States, China was willing to demonstrate its once-clandestine nuclear missile corps in 1984. High technologies such as the home-designed amphibious weapon systems were shown in 1999.

The sophisticated weapons displays were in tandem with rapid growth of economic strength. In the past three decades, the world's most populous country witnessed an average annual gross domestic product growth rate of more than nine percent.

In response to wild speculation on China's defense budget, the Ministry of Defense said in a White Paper, which was released Tuesday, that since 1986, the share of defense expenditure in GDP has never exceeded two percent. The percentage in 2007 was 1.38, an unimpressive number compared with that of the United States 4.5,the United Kingdom 2.7 and Russia 2.57.

While GDP grew almost 69 times in the past three decades, the defense spending of China grew only 21 times to 355.49 billion yuan (51.52 billion U.S. dollars) in 2007.

Some countries often doubted China's intention of expanding its military capability. A prominent defense strategist, however, claimed such grand parades would increase transparency in China's weapons modernization.

“For the whole country, the meaning of a parade on National Dayhas gone beyond the military field,” said Maj. Gen. Peng Guangqian, a senior expert with the PLA's Military Science Academy.

“A grand parade will show a transparent image to demonstrate China's military achievement and modernization in the international community,” Peng said.

“A military parade will give a lively lesson in national defense education to civilians. More importantly, it will provide an immeasurable inspiration to the army,” Maj. Gen. Luo Yuan also from the academy told Xinhua Tuesday.

Luo said the latest home-made equipment will be unveiled to the public in this year's parade to represent the PLA's achievement acquired in a new era transforming from mechanization to information-savvy forces.

China has accelerated its military development since the 1980s with a long-claimed policy to pursue the nation's own defense. Permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and a holder of nuclear weapons, China has always promised not to use nuclear weapons for first strikes.

Defense Ministry spokesman Hu Changming reiterated Tuesday the no-first-strike defensive strategy.

To escort merchant vessels to sail through waters off Somalia against surging piracy, China sent a task force of three warships to the Gulf of Aden. The warships and crews are not mandated, the Defense Ministry said, to actively engage in fire exchange with pirates or landing missions.

The task force has received overwhelming support from domestic communities which suggested that China may realize a major shift of its military strategy from coastline defense to global engagement.

Other extreme comments even pledged to pursue all the country's interests in every place in the world where Chinese exist. A defense white paper issued on Tuesday has insisted that the Navy will stick to the coastline defense policy.

Li Yaqiang, a professor with the Navy's academic institute, said that sending warships away from the coastline was an effort to deal with unconventional threat and cooperation with other navies to share escort responsibilities.

Maj. Gen. Peng also cooled down the scenario to realize a blue-water navy by sending the escort flotilla.

“There will be a long way for China to build up a deep-sea navy which is a complicated project for any armed force.”

“Even if China has its own aircraft carrier in the future, the Navy will still be a defensive arm to maintain regional stability and will not conduct a global cruise.”

Critics on the necessity to spend tax-payers money in organizing a large-scale parade amid economic depression still exist. But an online debate on www.huanqiu.com showed that so far 85 percent of about 4,300 Chinese netizens hoped that the parade will increase Chinese solidification and national morale.

“A successful parade will bring encouragement and confidence for Chinese people to overcome difficulties under a global financial crisis”, a netizen named Xiaoxiang said in the debate. Many others are looking forward to the new equipment and weapons probably to be shown in the parade.

Col. Cai Huailie with the PLA's Headquarters of the General Staff promised that the parade on Oct. 1 will be conducted in a solemn, enthusiastic but frugal way.

“Although it will involve a broader range of arms and more new weapons, the ceremony will be kept simple to cut costs,” Cai said.