China flexed its growing military might and its deepening ties with Russia with an extravagant military parade meant to showcase Chinese President Xi Jinping's ambition as the leader of an alternative, non-Western world order.
As the September 3 parade offered an image of military coordination and force -– including more than 10,000 highly choreographed personnel and hundreds of pieces of military hardware –- one of the most striking displays was images of Xi flanked by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as they overlooked the 70-minute procession across Beijing's Tiananmen Square in an unprecedented show of solidarity.
Xi shook the hands of both leaders and chatted with the pair as they walked down a red carpet ahead of a group of more than 20 other foreign dignitaries from around the world toward the stage overlooking the parade that marked 80 years since the end of World War II.
"This could be seen as a watershed moment in the realignment of this Eurasian power bloc," Sari Arho Havren, an associate fellow at London's Royal United Services Institute, told RFE/RL. "Chinese diplomacy is always heavily choreographed, but there is substance here too in showing North Korea's strategic value for China alongside Russia."
Following the show of unity that included the first-ever scenes of Xi, Putin, and Kim together at an event, the Russian and North Korean leaders held their own their meeting after traveling to the talks together by car from the parade grounds.
"I would like to note that your soldiers fought courageously and heroically," Putin said, sitting next to Kim, referring to the thousands of North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia's Kursk region to help push back Ukraine's counteroffensive on Russian territory.
Kim then pledged to keep helping Russia's war in Ukraine "any way" that it can.
"If there is any way that we can support Russia, we will always do it," Kim said. "We consider it our brotherly duty."
Following their closed-door meeting, Putin invited Kim to visit Moscow.
Trump Takes Aim At Xi, Putin, and Kim
As the parade unfolded, US President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to offer barbed congratulations to Xi on the World War II anniversary, which China marks with the surrender of imperial Japan in 1945.
"The big question to be answered is whether or not President Xi of China will mention the massive amount of support and 'blood' that The United States of America gave to China in order to help it to secure its FREEDOM from a very unfriendly foreign invader," he wrote, referring to Japan's full-scale invasion of China and the US war effort against Tokyo during World War II.
The US president also took aim at Putin and Kim for working against US interests.
"Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America," Trump added in a social media post.
Moscow's war effort has also been supported by Beijing through diplomatic backing, ramped up oil purchases, and the flow of militarily useful dual-use goods from China.
Their relationship has deepened since Moscow's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine amid rising trade and growing military cooperation, including China and Russia's first-ever joint submarine patrol in the Pacific in August.
An estimated 12,000 North Korean troops have fought alongside Russian forces against Ukraine since they were deployed in 2024. Western officials estimated that one-third of all North Korean troops deployed so far were either killed or wounded.
Trump met with Putin in Alaska in August amid on-and-off again negotiations to broker a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, but his diplomatic outreach has so far failed to unlock any major progress, with Russian officials brushing off attempts for a follow-up summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
As Putin attended the parade, Russia also launched an aerial assault on Ukraine involving 502 long-range drones and 24 cruise missiles, Ukrainian officials said.
When asked about Trump's comments, Yuri Ushakov, Putin's presidential aide, said there are "no conspiracies at all" and that "none of these three leaders have even entertained such thoughts."
“Furthermore, I can say that everyone understands the role played by the United States, the current administration of President Trump, and President Trump personally in the current international dynamics," Ushakov said.
'A Carefully Orchestrated Act of Strategic Communication'
At his speech kicking off the military parade, Xi said China was "unstoppable" while promoting a message of "national sacrifice –- not as victims, but as a function of willpower and national resolve."
Xi also struck a more defiant tone, saying that "the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is unstoppable!" and that China "is never intimidated by any bullies," a term usually used in official statements to refer indirectly to the United States.
"I believe this is a signal to the West, and primarily to the United States, that China now sees itself as a country ready to defend itself," Natalia Plaksienko-Butyrskaya, a senior fellow at the Kyiv-based New Europe Center, told Current Time, RFE/RL's Russian-language TV channel.
The celebrations around the anniversary honored China's suffering during World War II and the Communist Party's contributions to victory, but the massive parade also caps off a whirlwind of diplomatic events meant to show China's vision for an alternative world order to counter the longstanding dominance of the United States and its Western allies.
"This year's parade, therefore, is not simply a ceremonial display of troops and weaponry," Chinese journalist Deng Yuwen wrote for Foreign Policy magazine ahead of the event. "It is a carefully orchestrated act of strategic communication, weaving together messages of military strength, diplomatic positioning, and historical narratives, directed at audiences both at home and abroad."
The parade followed the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit this week that also sought to cast China as a global leader with deepening regional influence in Southeast and Central Asia.
Many leaders, including Belarusian strongman Aleksandr Lukashenko, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, remained in China after the summit to attend the parade. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, whose governments have each applied to join the SCO, were also at the military event in Beijing.
The longer stay in China by foreign leaders corresponded with a flurry of meetings and deals struck on the sidelines.
Kazakhstan announced that it had signed more than 70 different agreements with China, while Russia said it had inked over 20, including moving forward on a key gas pipeline, although many important details are still unclear.
China's big celebration and display of its expanding military arsenal also come as Beijing seeks to capitalize on the Trump administration's transactional and more erratic foreign policy, including launching sweeping tariffs and rattling longtime allies.
"The diplomatic moves, the military display, and the inclusion of Putin and Kim is all a show of strength," said Arho Havren. "It's a message to the United States and NATO that they can push back, but also to Japan, South Korea, Ukraine, and Taiwan that they are more vulnerable than ever."
