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, told AFP.