What Xi’s big parade was really about

With the dust now settled after Xi Jinping’s big Victory Day parade, it’s time to ask… what exactly was that? A big flex aimed at the US? A rallying cry for the broader Global South? A Party pump-up for weary audiences watching back home?

Well here are the three things you should know. 

1. Xi’s big speech. 

President Xi’s big speech had three big aims:

• First, by describing China’s war against Imperial Japan as its “first complete victory against foreign aggression in modern times”, Xi sought to frame his Party as the guardian of China’s sovereignty (see the debate below)

• Second, by then describing that victory as China’s “major contribution to the salvation of human civilization and the defense of world peace”, Xi sought to frame his country as a guardian of the world’s progress and order, and…

• Third, by then describing today as a “choice of peace or war, dialogue or confrontation, win-win or zero-sum”, Xi sought to frame this moment as a choice between two models: the West’s declining chaos or the East’s rising order.

Then there’s the backdrop of…

2. Weapons galore. 

Xi’s parades are known for big reveals, and this week’s new toys included giant shipborne laser defences, robot wolves, drones, and China’s full nuclear triad (air, land and sea-launch). There were also crowd fave missiles like the ‘Dongfeng 26D’ (aka ‘Guam Killer’), the hypersonic YJ-21 (aka ‘carrier killer’), plus a ‘Dongfeng-5C’ (capable of hitting the US).

The message? It was a home-made and modernised flex to warn that China can now hit targets near and far, so maybe the US and its allies should take a step back (then another).

For everyone else, it aimed to project a sense of inevitability (Xi used the term “unstoppable”) — ie, time to get with the program.

As for who got to watch all these toys rumble past…?

3. The guest list. 

If parades are theatre, then maybe the VIP balcony was the real stage here: Xi stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Russia’s Putin and North Korea’s Kim, while others from Iran, Cuba, Myanmar, Malaysia, Zimbabwe, and beyond clapped along.

That’s a pretty typical guest list for anyone chafing against Brussels and Washington.

Serbia’s Vucic was also there, as was Slovakia’s Fico (the only NATO/EU leader, though others sent lower-level reps). They raised eyebrows, but this is still very on-brand for them both, as Beijing/Moscow-friendly nationalists happy to buck consensus when it suits.

A few other Western-aligned ex-leaders also turned up from New Zealand, Belgium, Greece, and even Japan (Hatoyama), though they maintained a pretty low profile: this kind of presence arguably maintains dialogue without endorsing the militarism or despots.

So what’s Xi’s overall message? He’s really positioning himself and his China as the head of a coalition of states pushing back on a US-led world order.