Xi Jinping presided over China’s largest-ever military parade, orchestrated to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, which China calls the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
The event caps off a big week of diplomacy for China’s leader, coming just days after the Chinese city of Tianjin hosted a major summit for leaders of the global south.
Who was there
Dozens of world leaders – mostly from non-western nations – attended the event, but it was the grand entrance of Xi Jinping accompanied by Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korean Kim Jong-un that grabbed the most attention. The image of the three authoritarian strongmen chatting and shaking hands as they walked the red carpet sent a message of defiance to the west, according to analysts.
Other attendees included Belarus president Aleksandr Lukashenko, Iranian president Masoud Pezashkian, Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto and Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.
Who wasn’t there
Leaders from the US, western Europe, Japan, India and South Korea were not in attendance.
Among Chinese officials, there were not many significant absences immediately apparent. Missing Chinese Communist party (CCP) officials is one of the ways that China watchers figure out who might have fallen out of favour with Xi.
Xi Jinping, Putin and Kim appear together at Beijing’s massive military parade – video
Former Chinese leader Hu Jintao and former premier Zhu Rongji were not seen. Both are elderly, and Hu has been seen only once since he was unceremoniously bundled out of the 20th party congress in 2022.
Messages sent and received
The highly choreographed display and the formidable guest list were designed to send a message to the US and its allies about the strength of China today.
In his opening address Xi said the world was facing “a choice between peace and war”, warning that China was a great nation that “is never intimidated by any bullies”, a likely veiled reference to the US and its allies. He said the past showed that Chinese people always rallied together “to defy the enemy” when faced with adversity.
The images of Xi, Putin and Kim showed that “China is unafraid to stand by its friends and be their literal fellow traveller, even and perhaps especially when they are pariahs in the court of international public opinion,” said Wen-ti Sung, a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub.
The parade drew an almost immediate reaction from US president Donald Trump.
“Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America,” Trump posted on his Truth Social account.
Military reveals
The 70-minute parade displayed an eye-watering amount of military hardware. From tanks and drones to long-range and nuclear-capable missiles, fighter jets and stealth aircraft, the parade also revealed advances in People’s Liberation Army (PLA) weapons and assets.
The display was intended to “give the US, Europe and China’s neighbours pause should they consider challenging China’s core national interests”, said Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam school of international studies.
There were reported sightings of the J15-DT – China’s new, carrier-based electronic warfare jet. Raymond Kuo, director at Rand corporation, described it as a flying support system and decoy for fighter jets, keeping track of moving targets for the fighters, and drawing counterattacks away from them.
Kuo also noted a new submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile, demonstrating progress in China’s efforts to build a “triad” of nuclear missile systems that complement each other and offset each other’s weaknesses by launching from the land, air and sea.
A key takeaway for Ying-Yu Lin, an associate professor at the institute of international affairs and strategic studies at Tamkang University in Taiwan, was a growing emphasis on counter-drone systems and airborne early warning aircraft.
“I think these changes come from lessons drawn from the Russia-Ukraine war, where we saw drones being widely used.”
Jennifer Parker, adjunct fellow in naval studies at UNSW Canberra said it was important to “break apart” real capability from what she called China’s information warfare campaign.
“Associated with parades or exercises or demonstrations is always a huge degree of deception. But I don’t think we should underestimate China’s capabilities – they are a very capable military, and I think we should be quite concerned.”
Taiwan
Xi’s speech contained several references to the “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” – a common phrase for Xi’s overarching plan for China’s future which hinges on annexing Taiwan as Chinese territory.
Xi and the CCP claim Taiwan is a Chinese province, currently run by illegal separatists, and he has vowed to annex it under what he terms “reunification”. Taiwan’s government and people are opposed to this.
In Taiwan, President Lai Ching-te dismissed the parade, saying: “The people of Taiwan cherish peace, and Taiwan does not commemorate peace with the barrel of a gun.”
Additional reporting by Jason Tzu Kuan Lu and Daisy Dumas
