China’s
Victory Day military parade presents a fascinating paradox. With over 12,000 troops reportedly marching through Tiananmen Square, this spectacle celebrates a defensive military doctrine while showcasing power-projection capabilities that would make any expeditionary force envious. It reveals how Beijing is pioneering a new grammar of
military power that particularly resonates with the Global South.
The parade’s most consequential audience may not be Washington but middle powers from Jakarta to Johannesburg, governments that are grappling with how to develop military capabilities for an interconnected world while avoiding Cold War entanglements.
The parade’s choreographed display of “active defence” – featuring
carrier-based aircraft and
intercontinental missiles – offers these nations a template for strategic ambiguity. For countries like Indonesia protecting archipelagic waters or Nigeria securing offshore platforms, China’s model suggests they need not choose between capability and non-alignment.
The presence of Russian President
Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader
Kim Jong-un alongside President Xi Jinping deserves scrutiny. This wasn’t merely symbolic solidarity – it was strategic theatre. For Putin, attending while his forces struggle in Ukraine shows that Western isolation has failed. His prominence at the parade validates China’s alternative international order, where pragmatic partnerships trump values-based alliances.
Kim’s attendance marks his first multilateral international appearance since the Covid-19 pandemic, a carefully orchestrated return to the world stage. For North Korea, the parade offers legitimacy without denuclearising. Kim’s presence signals to other isolated regimes that China provides diplomatic lifelines outside Western-dominated frameworks. The overall message is unmistakable: alignment with Beijing offers rehabilitation without reform.
This trilateral display, with Xi flanked by Putin and Kim, projects an image that serves multiple purposes. It reassures domestic audiences that China isn’t isolated despite Western pressure, shows Global South nations that alternatives to Western partnerships exist and signals to Washington that its sanctions regime has limits. The optics suggest not an axis of evil but an axis of the excluded – nations rejecting Western terms of engagement.
South China Morning Post
