Chinese President Xi Jinping warned on Wednesday that the world stands at a crossroads between “peace or war” and “dialogue or confrontation,” as China hosts its largest-ever military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. More than 20 world leaders – including Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un – are in Beijing for the “Victory Day” military parade at Tiananmen Square, followed by a reception and evening gala hosted by China.
The speech came as US President Donald Trump wrote a post on Truth Social, asking the the Chinese leader to recognise US contributions to helping secure China’s freedom, while claiming that Beijing was “conspiring” against Washington. Kremlin has also reacted to the post, saying that it hopes these comments were made in irony.
Xi said: “Today, humanity is again faced with the choice of peace or war, dialogue or confrontation, win-win or zero-sum.” Further no nonsense quips from the Chinese president included the country “is never intimidated by any bullies” and insisted they “firmly stand on the right side of history”.
Speaking at Sky News, Dr Oriana Skylar Mastro, director of the Indo-Pacific Policy Lab said the intended message of the parade is that China will not be cowed by recent US moves in the Indo-Pacific. Beijing wants to make clear that its ambitions and actions are entirely legitimate,while Russia and China will continue to pursue their own independent objectives. She added it will become increasingly harder for the West to pressure these nations to halt hostilities, as American interests increasingly clash with those of Beijing and Moscow.
US-China tensions flared in April with steep tit-for-tat tariffs, but both sides have agreed to suspend most duties until mid-November, hoping a Trump–Xi meeting will ease the strain. Neil Thomas, fellow for China politics at Asia Society, told CNBC the gathering would not derail the ongoing US-China trade talks as both sides appeared to favour moving toward a deal in the coming months. However, he added: “The fact that China has this increased gravitational pull in regional diplomacy is telling about the progress that it [has] been able to make, especially when there’s increased uncertainty about whether Washington wants to do trade and investment deals with countries in Asia.”
The parade saw missiles, military lorries, tanks, autonomous vehicles and other hardware rolling through Tiananmen Square, with soldiers goose-stepping in precise formation and fighter jets roaring over the capital, as China displayed its military strength. The meticulously choreographed spectacle was intended to highlight some of the nation’s newer, domestically produced weaponry and equipment.
In the meantime, Russia launched more than 500 drones and missiles at Ukraine overnight. Most of them were shot down, but Ukraine warned the attacks were still ongoing.