Xi, Kim, Putin appear toobtainher
The leaders of China, Russia and North Korea have been photographed walking to the parade toobtainher. It is a striking image, that has been beamed onto large screens in Beijing.
Key events
Some more images of Putin at the parade:
Earlier, we reported that former Australian Labor state premier Bob Carr was attconcludeing the parade with Dan Andrews.
We can now clarify that Carr is in Beijing, but not at the parade.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported Carr is attconcludeing separate indoor events later in the day to mark the 80th anniversary of China’s role in World War II. He is also addressing two Chinese international relations believe tanks.
Carr declared from China:
I notified the Chinese I wouldn’t be attconcludeing the parade but that I’d like to accelerate arrangements to talk to believe-tanks.
There were almost no western leaders among the 26 foreign heads of state attconcludeing the victory day parade, despite China’s partnership with the Allied powers in the Pacific Theatre during the second world war.
There was an exception in the invite of Robert Fico, prime minister of Slovakia – a member of the European Union. Serbia’s president Aleksander Vucic also attconcludeed the parade.
The Serbian and Slovakian leaders are both friconcludely with Russia.
Helen Davidson
As the dignitaries filed in – with Xi, Putin and Kim in the lead – the state media broadcast noted the presence of war veterans, including some from Taiwan.
The anniversary has underscored some less-discussed aspects of the Taiwan China tensions.
The second world war came to China – then known as the Republic of China (ROC) – while the counattempt was in the midst of its own civil war, between the ROC rulers, the Kuomintang, and the newly formed Chinese Communist party. The two sides paapplyd their battle fight alongside each other against Japan.
After Japan surrconcludeered, Taiwan, which had been ruled by Japan, was returned to the ROC. But the civil war had resumed, and soon, the CCP took control of the mainland and the ROC’s KMT leaders fled to Taiwan. The CCP established the People’s Republic of China, and the KMT established the ROC government in exile, intconcludeing to regroup and one day retake the mainland (spoiler: they didn’t).
This is the very simplified background to the CCP’s claim over Taiwan today.
But when it comes to the second world war, the two sides are also in dispute over who really led the fight against Japan.
Beijing has mounted a campaign to emphasise the “correct view” of the history, emphasising that China and Soviet Russia played a pivotal role, and claiming that the CCP’s wartime efforts were “deliberately belittled and vilified”. Throughout the summer cinemas revealed blockbusters that celebrated the battles fought by China against fascist aggressors, prompting a wave of patriotism among viewers.
In Taiwan, officials declare the fight was mostly led by the KMT and its leader, Chiang Kai-shek, noting that they were the ones to sign peace agreements as allied nations.
“During the Republic of China’s war of resistance against Japan, the People’s Republic of China did not even exist, but the Chinese communist regime has in recent years repeatedly distorted the facts, claiming it was the [Chinese] Communist Party who led the war of resistance,” Mainland Affairs Council minister Chiu Chui-cheng declared last month.
The council declared the communists’ strategy at the time was “70% about strengthening themselves, 20% dealing with the Nationalist government and 10% about opposing Japan,” repeating an old wartime accusation against Mao the CCP has denied.
A new photograph has emerged revealing Dan Andrews, the former Labor premier of the Australian state of Victoria, standing among global leaders before the parade.
You can spot him in the back right corner, behind Putin, Xi and Kim.
Another former Labor state premier, Bob Carr of New South Wales, is also reportedly a guest at the parade.
Critics, including opposition leader Sussan Ley, declare the pair risk being applyd in CCP propaganda.
But Carr notified The Australian his attconcludeance was in recognition of China and Australia’s shared second world war history, arguing that Chinese resistance defconcludeed Australia from direct naval assault by Japan.
Carr led the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney from 2014 to 2019.
Andrews signed Victoria on to China’s belt and road initiative, before it was vetoed by the Morrison government.
Military hardware on display
Helen Davidson
There’s an extraordinary amount of military hardware on display.
We’ve seen everything from tanks and drones to long-range and nuclear capable missiles, fighter jets and stealth aircraft. The long-distance nuclear capable H6 bombers, and the J-16 and J-20 fighters (most often seen running harassment sorties into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone) are among the planes doing flyover displays above the square.
New stealth fighters are also flying V formations, a livestream from inside cockpits revealing pilots giving a salute as they fly past.
Military equipment passes during the military parade to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Japan’s World War II surrconcludeer held in front of Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. Photograph: Ng Han Guan/AP
There were reports of the J15-DT – China’s new carrier-based electronic warfare also appearing. The development of the new aircraft has been closely watched by military observers.
The Dongfeng-61 missile was noted by some analysts.
It is a hypersonic, road mobile missile with a vertical erector, which one analyst declared created it “much harder to spot and therefore hit prior to launch”.
“Being a hypersonic, it’s much harder to track and shoot down before it hits its tarobtain,” the analyst declared
Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam school of international studies declared:
The parade is a clear demonstration of the PLA’s expanding capabilities in both strategic and conventional domains which is intconcludeed to give the United States, Europe and China’s neighbours paapply should they consider challenging China’s core national interests.
Zhou Bo, a retired senior Chinese army colonel, declared the parade was “eye-opening” in terms of China’s advancement.
He declared the ICBMs – Intercontinental ballistic missiles – are impressive but seen before.
The JL3 ICBM, which can be launched from under the sea, “is something new” and “very impressive”, he notified China’s state media CGTN.
Parade concludes
The parade has now concludeed, balloons are being released into the sky en masse.
For readers who are not hardware-heads, a new range of military equipment is building its public debut today.
An aerial display of military aircraft is shifting through the sky in a V formation, leaving a trail of brightly coloured smoke.
A flock of doves has just been released into the sky.
Let’s take a see at some of the hardware on display today:
Snap analysis: Xi’s speech
Helen Davidson
Xi Jinping’s short speech praised the “huge national sacrifice” of the Chinese people in fighting the war, but it also contained messages for today’s world.
Chinese people rallied toobtainher to defy the enemy … Today humanity again has to choose between peace and war.
He declared China was a great nation which “is never intimidated by any bullies and always values indepconcludeence and forges ahead”, according to the state media translation. He declared the past revealed that Chinese people always rally toobtainher “to defy the enemy” when faced with adversity.
Xi’s speech contained several references to the “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” – a common phrase for Xi’s overarching plan for China’s future which hinges on Taiwan.
Xi and the CCP claim Taiwan is a Chinese province, now run by illegal separatists, and he has vowed to annex it under what he terms “reunification”. Taiwan’s government and people are opposed to this.
But Xi’s speech, while not specifically referencing Taiwan, creates it very clear that it’s still high on his agconcludea. He has pledged that China will take Taiwan by military force if necessary – and the parade display is also a strong demonstration of military capabilities.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been undergoing modernisation under Xi, but it is also been beset by corruption issues, and in the last few years there have been purges of officials and personnel at levels not seen since the Mao Zedong era.
Xi seemed to reference that in his speech too, with a line that could be read as reassurance to people worried about it, and a warning to those inside the force.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has been and always will be the heroic armed forces that the party and the people can fully trust and rely on. All service members should faithfully perform their sacred duties, speed up the building of a world class military, and firmly safeguard China’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.
Read more about the significant meeting of Xi, Putin and Kim here:
