Photo: Yang Hui/GT

As China held its National Day celebrations, which started with a highly anticipated military parade in Beijing on Tuesday morning, compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan attending the celebrations in the capital said they were honoured to participate in the event.

More than 240 people from various sectors in Hong Kong, led by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, arrived at Tiananmen Square to watch the parade around 9 am.

A delegation of Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference were also present at the celebration.

Ten representatives from the Hong Kong Police Force were invited to watch the parade, including Sergeant Lau Chak-kei, nicknamed "Bald Lau Sir" who wins respect for his bravery and courage in an operation combating violence and rioting in Hong Kong in July.

When the "one country, two systems" parade float passed Tiananmen Square, more than 2,000 marching participants shouted "Motherland, I love you!"

It was the first time to stage a phalanx featuring "one country, two systems" during a National Day parade.

Witman Hung Wai-man, principal liaison officer for Hong Kong at the Shenzhen Qianhai Authority and a Hong Kong deputy to the 13th National People's Congress, who was at Tiananmen Square, told the Global Times he was proud to be a Hong Kong deputy and a Chinese citizen during the current era and to be present at the celebrations.

"I saw the whole of Chinese people's heart-felt pride for the country, their longing for happiness and their support for the leadership. I feel the same," Hung said.

Ashley Tse Hiu-hung, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Youth Enlightenment, told the Global Times that the "one country, two systems" has entered a new era and Hong Kong's young people should shoulder the responsibility of promoting the principle and dedicate themselves to work for the country, especially in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

While addressing the grand rally celebrating the 70th anniversary of the PRC founding on Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for continued efforts to realize the country's complete reunification.

"On our journey forward, we must uphold the principles of 'peaceful reunification' and 'one country, two systems,' maintain lasting prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and Macao, promote the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations, unite all Chinese sons and daughters, and continue to strive for the motherland's complete reunification," said Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Live broadcasts of the parade were watched by tens of millions of people on the Chinese mainland on television and in Hong Kong's Times Square in Causeway Bay and Macao's Senado Square where local residents stopped to watch.

Wu Zhiliang, president of the Board of Directors, the Macao Foundation, told the Global Times that Tuesday was the third time he had attended National Day celebrations in Beijing. His first was in 1984 and the second in 2009.

Compared to a decade ago, he said he could clearly feel the country's rising national and military strength, and Macao and Hong Kong have both benefited from their return to China and people in Macao have always endorsed Chinese traditions and have a simple but true love for the country.

Pang Chuan, a member of Macao's Legislative Assembly who was also at Tiananmen Square, shared Wu's affections for the country.

"Only when the country is strong, will Macao remain prosperous. Macao people will continue to implement the 'one country, two systems' and share the prosperity of the country," Pang told the Global Times.

During the parade a float representing the island of Taiwan also passed Tiananmen Square.

Xue Qingde, a Taiwan-based businessman who began investing in Pingtan county, East China's Fujian Province more than a decade ago, told the Global Times that he felt joy as he attended the celebrations.

What impressed him most, he said, was the Electric-Techno Neon Gods on front of the float, as it shows the country respects and attaches importance to the religious beliefs of many people in Taiwan.