Xi Oversees China’s Military Parade Alongside Putin, Kim

China’s communist regime flexed its military might at a huge parade of troops and weaponry in Beijing on Sept. 3, marking the anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II 80 years ago.

Xi Jinping, leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), oversaw the military parade at Tiananmen Square, flanked by more than 20 national leaders, including North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In a speech before the parade, Xi claimed that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) “does not fear violence,” and that the Chinese people under CCP rule “stand on the right side of history.”

Xi urged the Chinese military, officially called the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), to “accelerate the building of a world-class military” to achieve what he called “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”

The Chinese Nationalist government, officially known as the Republic of China (ROC), led the fight against the invading Japanese military during the Second Sino-Japanese War, which began in 1937, while the CCP forces also participated in resistance efforts. World War II broke out in 1939, and Japan announced its surrender to Allied forces in August 1945.

Both Taiwan, which is officially called the ROC, and the Chinese regime commemorate the victory over Japan on Sept. 3.

During China’s parade, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te presided over a memorial ceremony at Taipei’s National Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine to commemorate those who died fighting for the ROC, including those who battled the Japanese forces and the communists.

“Rather, it remembers the lessons of history, sticks to the faith in freedom and democracy, and believes that the [military] equipment in hand is used to defend the country, not to invade and expand.”

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As the parade began, U.S. President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social account to ask whether Xi would “mention the massive amount of support and ‘blood’ that The United States of America gave to China in order to help it to secure its FREEDOM from a very unfriendly foreign invader,” referring to Japan.

Weapons

The parade, which lasted about 70 minutes, showcased helicopters trailing large banners and fighter jets flown in formation. According to China’s state-run media Xinhua, the parade also included a display of hypersonic missiles and new models of intercontinental ballistic missiles in the DongFeng (DF) class.

China’s defense officials have said that all weaponry and equipment displayed in the parade were “domestically produced active-duty main battle equipment,” with many being shown to the public for the first time.

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YJ-19, China's first operational hypersonic cruise missile, is seen during a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on Sept. 3, 2025. Greg Baker/ AFP via Getty Images

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By showing off advanced equipment such as hypersonic, air defense, and anti-missile systems, along with strategic missiles, the PLA aims to demonstrate its “powerful strategic deterrence capability,” the parade deputy director Wu Zeke said at a briefing earlier this month, Xinhua reported.

The display of weaponry is likely to fuel calls within Western democracies to counter the advances of the CCP, Feng Chongyi, a China studies academic at the University of Technology in Sydney, told The Epoch Times before the parade.

“The CCP’s aggressive military expansion poses a threat to world peace,” particularly in regions such as the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, where it undermines the international rule-based order, Feng said.

Purge

Shen Ming-shih, a research fellow at Taiwan’s government-funded think tank, the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told The Epoch Times before the military parade that China was intending to showcase its weaponry to signal that Xi has firm control over the PLA.

There has been widespread speculation among outside observers about Xi’s waning power. The sweeping anti-graft campaign, which Xi initially used to take down some of his most powerful political rivals, now appears to be turning against his own protégés and allies.

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Soldiers march during a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, in Tiananmen Square in Beijing on Sept. 3, 2025. Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

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Three of the seven leaders sitting on the Central Military Commission (CMC), a party committee that commands the People’s Liberation Army, have either vanished or been purged. Following the ousting of Adm. Miao Hua, a member of the CMC and an ally of Xi, China’s defense ministry quietly took down the military leadership page from its website.

“It’s hard to understand what has happened in the power struggle between Xi Jinping and the anti-Xi faction from the outside,” Shen, who specializes in PLA studies, added.

“But through such a military parade, Xi Jinping can create the impression that all nations are coming to pay tribute ... and that Xi Jinping’s power remains strong and stable. This can provide him with more support and leverage during any potential power transfer” ahead of the upcoming closed-door party meeting known as the fourth plenum, Shen said.

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Luo Ya contributed to this report. 

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