China’s rise is “unstoppable,” President Xi Jinping said Wednesday, as he oversaw a massive parade of the country’s armed forces through central Beijing, a grand show of military might to mark 80 years since the end of the Second World War.
Tens of thousands of military personnel took part in the event, which began with battalions of soldiers goose-stepping in unison past Tiananmen Square, where Mr. Xi and a cavalcade of world leaders had gathered on the rostrum of the Gate of Heavenly Peace, at the edge of the historic Forbidden City.
They were followed by a showcase of cutting-edge military hardware, including new intercontinental ballistic missiles, unmanned tanks and submarines, stealth drones, and a triad of land, sea and air-launched nuclear weapons. Overhead, bombers and jets conducted flybys, as a military band performed a string of patriotic songs.
Military personnel take part in a military parade on Wednesday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender.Ng Han Guan/The Associated Press
As well as the military strength on display, Wednesday’s event was a demonstration of China’s diplomatic clout in the face of pressure from the United States, which under President Donald Trump has tried to isolate Beijing with crippling tariffs and pressure on its trading partners.
In a speech, Mr. Xi said China had sacrificed greatly during the Second World War, when the country was devastated by Japanese invasion and occupation, but that “faced with struggles between good and evil, progress and reaction, the Chinese people rallied together” to defy the enemy and rebuild.
“The Chinese nation is a great nation that will never be intimidated by any bullies,” Mr. Xi said. “Today, humanity again has to choose between peace and war, dialogue and confrontation, win-win co-operation and zero-sum game. The Chinese people firmly stand on the right side of history.”
Ahead of his speech, Mr. Xi was shown on state TV walking and laughing alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un, who then stood alongside him in positions of honour on the Tiananmen rostrum.
While China and Russia are North Korea’s most important allies, the three men have not been photographed together before, and Mr. Xi’s public embrace of two leaders who have long been global pariahs appeared designed to send a pointed message of defiance to the West.
Chinese President Xi Jinping warned the world was facing a choice between peace or war at a massive military parade in Beijing Sept. 3, flanked by Russia's Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
Reuters
Certainly that seems to be how it was received by Mr. Trump, who lashed out on social media, accusing China of not acknowledging the U.S. role in defeating Imperial Japan.
“Many Americans died in China’s quest for Victory and Glory. I hope that they are rightfully Honored and Remembered for their Bravery and Sacrifice!” Mr. Trump wrote. “May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration. Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America.”
Since Mr. Trump’s return to office, there have been some in Washington who have speculated openly about breaking the China-Russia partnership. But Mr. Trump’s rapprochement with Moscow, including a meeting between the U.S. President and Mr. Putin in Alaska last month, appears to have had little effect.
U.S. and Ukrainian intelligence have accused China of providing materiel for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, something Beijing denies, along with key economic support in the face of Western sanctions. On Tuesday, Mr. Putin and Mr. Xi hailed their friendship as an “example of major-country relations,” and promised to increase engagement as they signed more than 20 bilateral agreements, including allowing Russians to visit China visa-free.
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North Korea has gone further, sending troops to bolster Russia’s forces in the field, in return for military and economic support of its own, and Mr. Kim’s prominent position in Wednesday’s parade may have been an effort by Mr. Xi to ensure Pyongyang does not shift too far into Russia’s field of influence.
At a meeting with the North Korean Leader in Beijing later Wednesday, Mr. Putin said Mr. Kim’s soldiers had “fought courageously and heroically,” including in the “liberation of the Kursk region.”
“We will never forget the sacrifices made by your armed forces and the families of your servicemen,” Mr. Putin said, a remarkable shift from only a few months ago when both countries were still denying that North Korean troops had even entered the conflict.
Mr. Kim travelled to Beijing by armoured train, his first visit to China in six years. According to photos released by North Korean state media, he was accompanied by his young daughter Kim Ju Ae, who has taken on an increasingly prominent role in North Korean propaganda, with some analysts speculating Mr. Kim is positioning her as a potential successor.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrive at the military parade.Sergei Bobylev/The Associated Press
Ms. Kim was not seen at the parade itself, where her father sat next to Mr. Xi and could be seen on state TV speaking with the Chinese Leader through an interpreter, gesturing toward the impressive display of weaponry on show before them. They were joined on the rostrum by dozens of other world leaders, including Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Many of the leaders present had taken part earlier this week in a meeting of the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a key plank in Mr. Xi’s continuing efforts to supplant the Western-led post-Second World War order and create what he called a “more just and equitable global governance system.”
Mr. Putin on Monday praised the SCO as having revived “genuine multilateralism” and laying the “political and socio-economic groundwork for the formation of a new system of stability and security in Eurasia.”
“This security system, unlike Euro-centric and Euro-Atlantic models, would genuinely consider the interests of a broad range of countries, be truly balanced, and would not allow one country to ensure its own security at the expense of others,” he said.
A Xi'an Y-20 Kunpeng aircraft and two jet fighters perform an air refueling maneuver.PEDRO PARDO/AFP/Getty Images
Both Beijing and Moscow have sought to use recent commemorations of the end of the Second World War to assert what they see as the correct historical interpretation of their countries’ sacrifices during that war.
Writing Wednesday, Joseph Torigian, an expert on Chinese and Russian elite politics at Stanford’s Hoover History Lab, said “Xi and Putin see themselves as men who inherited a baton from their forefathers to continue a struggle against outside enemy forces who have always wanted to eliminate their countries’ distinct national characteristics and subjugate them.”
Mr. Xi was keen to use Wednesday’s parade to highlight China’s success in the decades since the Second World War, rebuilding from one of its lowest points to become a global superpower once again, as well as those who Beijing sees as responsible for this transformation.
In describing the themes and messages of Wednesday’s’ parade, a narrator on state TV said the event showed “the will of history never stops under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China.”