-By LeN Diplomatic Correspondent
(Lanka-e-News -03.Sep.2025, 10.45 PM) China delivered a carefully staged message to the world yesterday, rolling tanks and missile launchers through Tiananmen Square in a grand display of military power designed to underline Beijing’s growing might and challenge the US-led security order in the Indo-Pacific.
Standing shoulder-to-shoulder for the first time in public, President Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un watched as tens of thousands of Chinese troops, advanced missile systems and experimental weapons systems passed in review. The unprecedented trio at the reviewing stand was itself a provocation — a reminder of a strategic axis forming in open defiance of Washington and its allies.
The parade marked the anniversary of the end of the Second World War, but it also served as a thinly veiled warning. Chinese state media hailed the event as a signal to the Indo-Pacific Alliance — the loose grouping of the United States, Japan, India and Australia — to “stay out of China’s affairs” in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.
Among the most eye-catching revelations was the upgraded DF-31BJ intercontinental ballistic missile, flanked by the new hypersonic CJ-1000 system and the JL-3 submarine-launched nuclear missile, reportedly carrying four-megaton warheads on the DF-5C platform. The versatile PCH-191 rocket system, with a reported range of up to 5,000 kilometres, rolled alongside futuristic drone fleets, laser missile systems, and advanced anti-aircraft batteries including the HQ-12, HQ-19 and the newly developed HQ-29.
Naval technology was also in evidence: China unveiled a ship-based LY-1 laser air defence system designed to neutralise incoming missiles and aircraft at sea. Analysts said the combination of hypersonics, directed energy weapons and unmanned systems suggested that Beijing was moving beyond sheer numbers into a new era of qualitative military innovation.
The parade capped a week of high-profile diplomacy in Beijing. More than 50,000 people, according to state broadcaster CCTV, gathered to watch what was billed as both a military and cultural celebration, followed by an elaborate musical gala titled Justice Will Prevail. Xi, who met World War II veterans before the evening performance, used the occasion to portray China as the guardian of peace — even as his weaponry told another story.
For Moscow and Pyongyang, the optics were equally powerful. After more than two hours of talks, Mr Putin invited Kim Jong Un to Moscow and said he was open to hosting Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, “if conditions allow”. It was a moment intended to place Russia, and by extension China, at the centre of a rival diplomatic stage.
In Washington, President Donald Trump accused China, Russia and North Korea of “conspiring against the United States”, adding that the parade “shows why our alliances in the Indo-Pacific are more important than ever”. Mr Putin responded with a smile, telling reporters that “the US president does not lack a sense of humour”.
For allies in Asia, the symbolism was impossible to miss. The presence of Mr Kim — a nuclear-armed autocrat long viewed as a pariah — alongside Mr Xi and Mr Putin, underscored Beijing’s willingness to flaunt its partnerships as it challenges American primacy at sea.
As the last fireworks faded over Tiananmen, analysts were left with little doubt about Beijing’s intent: China is not only modernising the world’s largest standing army but also knitting together a coalition capable of testing Western resolve from the South China Sea to Ukraine.
-By LeN Diplomatic Correspondent
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by (2025-09-03 17:15:10)
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