{"id":114960,"date":"2025-09-03T05:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T05:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/114960\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T05:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T05:56:09","slug":"xi-jinping-says-world-faces-peace-or-war-as-vladimir-putin-and-kim-jong-un-join-him-for-military-parade-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/114960\/","title":{"rendered":"Xi Jinping says world faces \u2018peace or war\u2019, as Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un join him for military parade | China"},"content":{"rendered":"

Xi Jinping warned the world was facing a choice between peace or war as he held China\u2019s largest-ever military parade, flanked by Russia\u2019s Vladimir Putin and North Korea\u2019s Kim Jong-un, capping a week of diplomatic grandstanding<\/a> seen as a rebuke to the west.<\/p>\n

Putin and Kim, the authoritarian leaders of Russia and North Korea<\/a>, are among dozens of world leaders attending the parade, a massive display of military hardware and personnel, orchestrated to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, which China calls the Japanese War of Aggression.<\/p>\n

But it was the unprecedented image of the three men chatting and shaking hands as they walked the red carpet that analysts said sent a message of defiance to the west<\/a>, as the US president Donald Trump\u2019s trade tariffs and volatile policymaking strain its relations with allies and rivals alike.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, mankind is faced with the choice of peace or war, dialogue or confrontation, win-win or zero-sum,\u201d Xi told a crowd of more than 50,000 spectators at Tiananmen Square, adding that the Chinese people \u201cfirmly stand on the right side of history\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said China<\/a> was a great nation which \u201cis never intimidated by any bullies\u201d in an apparent veiled reference to the US and its allies and warned that China was \u201cunstoppable\u201d, before the massive display of military hardware began.<\/p>\n

Vladimir Putin arrives before the military parade. Photograph: Sergey Bobylev\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cBeijing is sending a message \u2026 that even if western countries continue to sanction Russia<\/a> over the Russia-Ukraine War, Beijing will not be afraid to stand by its friend,\u201d said Wen-ti Sung, a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council\u2019s Global China Hub.<\/p>\n

China has touted the parade as a show of unity with other countries<\/a>, and Kim\u2019s attendance is the first time he has been seen with Xi and Putin at the same event. It is only Kim\u2019s second reported trip abroad in six years.<\/p>\n

The event drew an almost immediate reaction from Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration,\u201d Trump posted on his Truth Social account.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin<\/a>, and Kim Jong-un, as you conspire against The United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putin\u2019s appearance in Beijing came as Russia launched a sweeping overnight air attack on Ukraine, injuring at least four railway workers and prompting Poland to scramble defence aircraft.<\/p>\n

Among the other guests are Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian and Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing. No major western leaders are attending. Kim has been accompanied by his daughter Kim Ju-ae, images released by North Korean state news showed.<\/p>\n

Political analysts say the parade is designed to demonstrate Xi\u2019s influence over nations intent on reshaping the western-led global order. It came just days after the Chinese city of Tianjin hosted a major summit for leaders of the global south<\/a>, which was also attended by Putin.<\/p>\n

Analysts are watching closely to see if any formal meeting between Xi, Putin and Kim is held.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf all three were to meet, it would be very striking to the United States, highlighting a potential new cold war dynamic,\u201d said Lim Chuan-Tiong, a researcher with the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia at the University of Tokyo.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf such a meeting does not take place, it is likely because China does not want to overly provoke the US while maintaining a certain degree of triangular ambiguity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armoured vehicles and soldiers are seen during the victory day parade. Photograph: Lintao Zhang\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

After his remarks, Xi stood in an open top car to inspect the parade, greeting troops and receiving salutes. Analysts made much of the military hardware on display; from tanks and drones to long-range and nuclear capable missiles, fighter jets and stealth aircraft, with several newly developed assets unveiled.<\/p>\n

The hardware is intended to \u201cgive the United States, Europe and China\u2019s neighbours pause should they consider challenging China\u2019s core national interests,\u201d said Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam school of international studies.<\/p>\n

Much of the weaponry and equipment in the parade was being shown to the public for the first time, according to Chinese military officials. This included hypersonic missiles designed to take out ships at sea. These weapons are of particular concern to the US Navy, which patrols the western Pacific from its 7th Fleet headquarters in Japan.<\/p>\n

Also on display were underwater drones including the AJX002 and a new intercontinental ballistic missile, the DF-61, which China says could carry nuclear warheads to distant targets.<\/p>\n

Xi\u2019s speech contained several references to the \u201crejuvenation of the Chinese nation\u201d \u2013 a common phrase for Xi\u2019s overarching plan for China\u2019s future which hinges on annexing Taiwan as Chinese territory.<\/p>\n

Xi and the Chinese Communist party claim Taiwan is a Chinese province, currently run by illegal separatists. Taiwan\u2019s government and people are opposed to this.<\/p>\n

The People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA) has been undergoing a massive modernisation and advancement under Xi, but it\u2019s also been beset by corruption issues, and in the last few years there have been purges of officials and personnel<\/a> at levels not seen since the Mao Zedong era.<\/p>\n

With Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Xi Jinping warned the world was facing a choice between peace or war as he held China\u2019s largest-ever…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-114960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}