North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin arrived Wednesday morning ahead of a massive parade in Beijing to cap a week of diplomatic grandstanding by President Xi Jinping and his allies against the West.
In unprecedented scenes, Xi shook both their hands and chatted with the pair as they walked down a red carpet towards Tiananmen Square, with Putin to Xi’s right and Kim to his left.
China will showcase its military prowess with troops marching in formation, flypasts and displays of high-tech fighting gear at the showpiece extravaganza to mark 80 years since the end of World War II.
Millions of Chinese people were killed during a prolonged war with imperial Japan in the 1930s and 40s, which became part of a global conflict following Tokyo’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
All eyes will be on how the trio of Xi, Putin and Kim — who rarely leaves secretive North Korea — interact with each other in a highly choreographed photo opportunity seen as a coup for China on the world stage.
Starting at 9:00 am (0100 GMT), Wednesday’s 70-minute event is the climax of a whirlwind week for Xi, who on Sunday and Monday hosted a slew of Eurasian leaders for a summit in the northern port city of Tianjin aimed at putting China front and centre of regional relations.
The club of 10 countries, named the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), touts itself as a non-Western style of collaboration in the region and seeks to be an alternative to traditional alliances.
During the summit, Xi slammed “bullying behaviour” from certain countries — a veiled reference to the United States — while Putin defended Russia’s Ukraine offensive, blaming the West for triggering the conflict.
Many of the guests from the Tianjin gathering, including Putin, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and several other leaders, will join Xi for the parade in Beijing.
However, no major Western leaders will attend the event.
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