North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to flank Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday at a monumental military parade in Beijing — a rare and symbolic show of unity against the West.
The spectacle, staged in Tiananmen Square, will feature troops marching in tight formation, aerial flyovers, and cutting-edge military hardware in a display of China’s growing power.
The event marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, a conflict that claimed millions of Chinese lives during the brutal war with imperial Japan in the 1930s and 40s.
Much of the focus will be on the interactions between Xi, Putin, and Kim — the latter making one of his rare trips outside of North Korea. Analysts view the trio’s appearance together as a significant diplomatic win for Beijing, cementing its role as a counterweight to Western influence.
The 70-minute parade caps a week of high-level diplomacy for President Xi, who earlier hosted Eurasian leaders in the northern port city of Tianjin at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
The 10-member bloc positions itself as a non-Western alternative to traditional alliances, strengthening China’s influence in regional affairs.
At the summit, Xi condemned what he described as “bullying behaviour” by certain powers — a pointed swipe at the United States — while Putin defended Russia’s war in Ukraine, blaming Western nations for instigating the conflict.
Several of the leaders who attended the Tianjin summit, including Putin, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and others, will stand alongside Xi at the Beijing parade.
Noticeably absent will be leaders from major Western nations, underscoring the geopolitical divide at the heart of the event.
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