Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean Kim Jong will participate in a huge military parade in China, alongside President Xi Jinping, in a show of units of the three countries that also sounds like a challenge to the West.
Tens of thousands of troops in Piazza Tiananmen will parade on 3 September, together with foreign dignitaries and high Chinese managers, to celebrate the day of victory, which recalls the end of the war with Japan in the last century.
A demonstration of strength
The parade, which will have an impressive choreography, will be one of China’s largest in recent years and will show cutting -edge equipment such as combat jets, missile defense systems and hypersonic weapons. Millions of Chinese were killed during the long war with imperial Japan in the 1930s and 1940s, a conflict that became part of the Second World War after Tokyo’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
No western leaders will be present among the 26 leaders of state, with the exception of Robert Fico, Prime Minister of Slovakia, the only representative of the European Union. Fico had already participated in the parade of the day of victory in Moscow.
The axis between China, Russia and North Korea
By showing together, XI, Putin and Kim will give a demonstration of solidarity between three nations affected by different cycles of sanctions by the West, largely linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. North Korea has also been subjected to sanctions of the UN Security Council since 2006 for the development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
Particularly significant will be the presence of the North Korean leader, to his fifth visit to China. The last dates back to January 2019, when he met Xi Jinping in Beijing. His last trip abroad, however, was in September two years ago, when he went to Vladivostok, Russia, to meet Putin.
The other leaders present
Among the participants in the parade that celebrates the formal performance of Japan there will be the president of the Bielorusso Aleksandr Lukashenko, the Iranian president Masoud Pezashkian, the Indonesian president Prabowo sub-Sottlanta and the speaker of the National Assembly of South Korea Woo Won-Shik, as stated by the Deputy Minister of Chinese Foreign Hongs. Vučić will take part in the parade.
The United Nations will be represented by Undersecretary General Li Junhua, who previously held different functions at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, including that of Ambassador to Italy, San Marino and Myanmar.
