Politics
Xi Jinping’s 80th WWII Anniversary Parade: A Post-Western World on Display
Beijing’s 80th Victory Day parade was more than commemoration—it was Xi Jinping’s declaration that a post-Western order has arrived, with China at its centre and the West on the sidelines.
A Celebration with Global Guests
The military parade was attended by over thirty heads of state and international organisation leaders. Notably present were Russia’s Vladimir Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, and Iran’s President, joined by leaders from Central Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Their presence underscored Beijing’s claim to be the voice of the Global South, contrasting with the absence of leaders from the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Australia. However, from Europe, Serbia and Slovakia were present.
For China, this was not merely a domestic celebration of the end of WWII. It was a deliberate retelling of history, asserting the centrality of China’s wartime sacrifices, often overlooked in Western narratives, and positioning the People’s Republic as both a victor of the past and an architect of the future.
Theatre of Power: Military Showcase in Tiananmen
The heart of the parade was not the speeches but the weapons. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) rolled out its most advanced capabilities, offering a rare public glimpse into its nuclear, conventional arsenal and new technology such as laser, AI and drones.
- Air power: The Jinglei-1 long-range bomber missile was displayed, signalling progress in China’s strategic air power.
- Sea power: The Julang-3 submarine-launched ICBM highlighted Beijing’s ability to ensure a credible second-strike capability.
- Land power: Variants of the Dongfeng series—DF-31, DF-61—were presented as evidence of a rapidly modernising missile corps.
- Crowning Display: The DF-5C, a missile with an estimated 20,000 km range and multiple independently targetable warheads, paraded on colossal launchers, symbolising Beijing’s arrival as a peer nuclear power to Washington and Moscow.
According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, China now possesses roughly 600 nuclear warheads, a number projected by the Pentagon to reach 1,000 by 2030 and 1,500 by 2035. Sam Roggeveen, writing in Foreign Policy, argues that the parade demonstrates China is no longer just catching up. It is innovating in military technology, including AI, shifting the regional balance that for decades favoured the United States and its allies.
Xi Jinping’s Message: A Post-Western World
Xi Jinping’s address was unambiguous. Declaring that “the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is unstoppable,” he framed the moment as a choice for humanity: between peace and war, dialogue and confrontation, mutual benefit and zero-sum competition. China, he insisted, “firmly stands on the right side of history.”
This was more than patriotic rhetoric. The speech was a direct signal to Washington and a carefully tailored invitation to the Global South: align with Beijing, which offers stability, shared development, and respect for sovereignty, as opposed to what is portrayed as America’s erratic unilateralism, wars and sanctions.
In pairing commemoration of WWII with cutting-edge military display, Xi effectively linked China’s historical legitimacy with its contemporary capability. The narrative is clear: China has risen from victim to victor, from regional power to global shaper of order.
Reception in the West and Asia-Pacific
Reactions in Western capitals were cool, if not uneasy. In Washington, analysts interpreted the parade as a reminder that trade wars can be endured, but military coercion cannot. The Pentagon underscored the growing risk of a tripolar nuclear world (China, Russia, and the United States) eroding America’s long-standing strategic dominance.
In Europe, responses were ambivalent. While leaders avoided outright confrontation, the parade fed into debates about Europe’s strategic irrelevance. The EU’s reliance on regulation as its main geopolitical tool rings increasingly hollow when its moral authority is undermined by complicity in genocide, such as Gaza. As critics note, Europe’s soft power has “vaporised,” leaving the continent trapped between an unreliable American ally and an assertive China.
In Tokyo and Seoul, the absence of participation was deliberate. Both nations, tied closely to US security structures, viewed the alignment of Xi, Putin, and Kim Jong-un as a stark warning: any future conflict in the region will be multidimensional, stretching from Taiwan to the Korean Peninsula and beyond.
In Canberra, the parade reinforced perceptions of China as both partner and systemic rival, deepening debates over Australia’s reliance on US protection in an increasingly contested Indo-Pacific.
Geopolitical Lessons
Several lessons emerge from Beijing’s theatre of power. I would like to point out five:
- China as Constructive Leader: Xi projected himself as a global statesman advocating peace, in contrast to Donald Trump’s chaotic, undiplomatic, transactional style. For the Global South, the optics favour Beijing.
- Multipolar Alliances: The presence of Russia, North Korea, Iran and other 23 heads of state and government showed that China is not isolated but at the centre of a network of states willing to defy Washington or to turn the page of history.
- Strategic Sovereignty: States such as India, Iran, and Russia are signalling that they will not obey American diktats. Europe, by contrast, remains dependent, unable to assert real sovereignty, and unable to understand and to deal with Trump: he does not divide the world in liberal democracies and autocracies, but in strong and weak states and leaders.
- Military Capability with Defensive Framing: While China showcased formidable new arms, Xi framed them as defensive, part of a strategy of deterrence rather than aggression.
- End of Pax Americana: The image of Xi, Putin, and Kim standing together was a deliberate historical echo of Mao, Khrushchev, and Kim Il-sung in 1959. It signalled that the era of US uncontested supremacy in Asia is over. Two days earlier at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the image was Xi, Putin and Modi in candle conversation and displaying full smiles.
Europe’s Dilemma
For Europe, the message is particularly uncomfortable. The EU remains caught in hedging mode between China and the US. Its reliance on regulation as geopolitical leverage does not compensate for declining competitiveness, and without moral capital, Europe cannot exercise effective soft power. Its failure to act on Gaza, while supplying arms and intelligence to Israel, has undermined its credibility as a normative actor.
Europe’s choice is stark: either cling to an increasingly unilateral, erratic United States, or redefine itself in a multipolar world where China is setting the agenda. So far, paralysis prevails.
Conclusion: A Post-Western World in Practice
Xi Jinping’s 80th Anniversary Parade was more than an exercise in military pomp. It was a declaration that a post-Western world has arrived, one where China presents itself as the defender of peace, the champion of sovereignty, and the hub of new alliances.
The lesson for the West is clear: China does not seek to destroy the existing order but to supersede it with alternatives that reflect non-Western interests and elevate Beijing’s leadership. The question is whether Washington, Brussels, and Tokyo recognise this shift or whether they risk becoming spectators in a drama where the script is already being rewritten in Mandarin.
Ricardo Martins, PhD in Sociology, specializing in International Relations and Geopolitics
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