BEIJING — Thousands of troops will march in a huge military parade in Beijing on Wednesday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Japan and the end of World War
Thousands of troops will march in a huge military parade in Beijing on Wednesday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Japan and the end of World War II.
Here’s what to look out for:
The leaders of North Korea, Russia and Iran will join China’s President Xi Jinping at the event, a grouping labelled the “axis of autocracies” by some Western commentators.
It is North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s first visit to China since 2019, and the first time he will appear in public with Xi and Russia’s Vladimir Putin together.
All eyes will be on the seating arrangements of Xi, Putin and Kim and how they interact with each other in a photo opportunity likely to be highly choreographed.
The attendee list “underscores China’s role as the world’s leading authoritarian power”, the Asia Society’s Neil Thomas wrote on X.
Most Western leaders will stay away, but Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico and Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic will attend.
Both are close to Putin and broke ranks with the European Union to visit Russia for its Victory Day parade in May.
“China is looking to signal its closeness to its global south partners and countries that are non-Western and, in some cases, anti-Western,” historian Rana Mitter told AFP.
