Beijing — Under the shadow of Tiananmen Gate, where the red flags of China whipped in the late-summer wind, President Xi Jinping declared that the world faced a stark choice: “peace or war, reported by The Nation News.” His words rang out over a massive military parade marking the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II — a spectacle that doubled as a display of China’s rising power and a tableau of its most controversial alliances.
At Xi’s side sat Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, the first time the three leaders had appeared together in public. Flanked by Iran’s president and other allies, the trio presented a tableau of defiance to the West, which largely boycotted the event.
Tiananmen Square was transformed into a stage of pomp and precision. Tens of thousands filled the seats, while golden numerals — “1945” and “2025” — loomed above the grandstand, reminding the crowd of both victory past and ambition ahead. Massed choirs belted patriotic songs. Soldiers marched in unison with clockwork precision. Hypersonic missiles, drone submarines, and even a weaponized “robot wolf” rolled past in a thunderous procession.
Dressed in a Mao-style jacket, Xi rode an open-top limousine down Chang’an Avenue, saluting the serried ranks of troops. “Comrades, you are working hard!” he shouted into a bank of microphones. His words, echoed in the heat of a mid-30s Beijing morning, drew cheers from the crowd, even as spectators fanned themselves under the merciless sun.
“The rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is unstoppable,” Xi declared later from the rostrum. “Only when nations treat each other as equals will peace be possible.”
Putin, who met Kim after the parade, thanked North Korean soldiers for their support in Ukraine — a pointed reminder of the battlefield ties binding Moscow and Pyongyang. Kim, for his part, pledged to “do everything” to assist Russia.
In Washington’s absence, another voice broke through — that of Donald Trump. Writing on Truth Social, the former U.S. president accused Xi, Putin, and Kim of conspiring against America. In characteristic fashion, he mixed grievance with bravado, reminding Beijing of the “blood” shed by U.S. soldiers in China during World War II, while offering “warmest regards” to the very leaders he accused of plotting.
The Kremlin dismissed Trump’s remarks as irony. But his outburst underscored Western unease at the imagery in Beijing: three nuclear-armed leaders, isolated internationally yet united on China’s reviewing stand, projecting a shared defiance.
As intercontinental ballistic missiles rolled across the square and bands thundered patriotic anthems, the pageantry was unmistakable: this was China not only remembering its past but asserting its place in a contested future.
