China military parade latest: Xi Jinping hosts Putin and Kim Jong Un in Beijing for major show of force

Xi is set to host a gala for foreign leaders following a military parade to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two.

The even is expected to start around 11.45 GMT.

• Xi met with Putin and Kim Jong Un in Beijing, showing unity among countries isolated by the West over the Ukraine war.
• Xi criticized US dominance at a SCO summit, urging opposition to “hegemonism and power politics.”
• The Chinese leader also met with India’s Modi, whose Russian oil imports have drawn Trump’s criticism.
• Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed the summit as “performative” and accused China and India of helping fund Russia’s war.
• Russia’s Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation signed a long-term gas supply deal, including plans for a new pipeline.

Painstaking planning has also gone into China’s “Victory Day” parade, marking 80 years since Japan’s defeat at the end of World War Two, with downtown Beijing paralysed by security measures and traffic controls for weeks.

Alongside the showcase of cutting-edge military hardware in front of an estimated 50,000 spectators, authorities plan to release more than 80,000 “peace doves” during the event.

US president Donald Trump was asked by a reporter during a press conference at the White House if he interpreted Putin attending China’s military parade as a “challenge”.

He responded that he did not see it as a challenge and that he was not concerned.

“China needs us. And I had a very good meeting with President Putin a couple of weeks ago,” he told reporters.

Xi, Putin and Kim are set to take centre stage at a massive military parade.

Analysts are watching whether the trio may signal closer defence relations following a pact signed by Russia and North Korea in June 2024, and a similar alliance between Beijing and Pyongyang, an outcome that may alter the military calculus in the Asia-Pacific region.

“Trilateral military exercises between Russia, China and North Korea seem nearly inevitable,” wrote Youngjun Kim, an analyst at the US-based National Bureau of Asian Research, in March, citing how the conflict in Ukraine had pushed Moscow and Pyongyang closer.

“Until a few years ago, China and Russia were important partners in imposing international sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear and missile tests… (they) are now potential military partners of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea during a crisis on the Korean peninsula,” he added, using the diplomatically isolated country’s official name.

North Korea has supplied more than 15,000 troops to support Putin’s war in Ukraine.

About 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed fighting for Russia in the Kursk region, according to South Korea’s intelligence agency, which believes Pyongyang is planning another deployment.

For Kim, the parade will mark the largest multilateral diplomatic event he has ever attended, offering the reclusive young leader an opportunity to gain implicit support for his banned nuclear weapons, and expand his diplomatic circle.