On Wednesday, a grand military parade was held in Beijing to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. The central event was the appearance on the rostrum of three leaders at once - Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The event demonstrated not only China's military might but also its new political alliances. This is reported by Reuters, writes UNN.
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During the 70-minute show, fighter jets and helicopters with flags flew over the city, 80,000 "peace birds" were released into the sky, and on the ground, a column of thousands of military personnel and the latest equipment – from hypersonic missiles to underwater drones – marched. Xi, dressed in Mao style, personally inspected the troops in an open limousine.
Symbolic was the moment when Xi sat between Putin and Kim - it was the first time this trio appeared together in public. The meeting immediately drew criticism from the West: US and European leaders ignored the parade, and Taiwan stated that "peace cannot be celebrated at gunpoint."
After the event, Putin held talks with Kim, where he thanked North Korean soldiers for their "courage in the war in Ukraine," and Kim assured that he was ready to help Russia even more actively. Xi himself used the parade to show that China claims a leading role in shaping a new world order.
Reuters analysts note that the event had two goals – to raise patriotism within the PRC and to signal to the outside world the strengthening of the military-political alliance between Beijing, Moscow, and Pyongyang.