BEIJING PARADE, NEW POWER OPTICS

Unprecedented Xi-Putin-Kim tableau, with Kim Ju Ae's debut and "immortality" hot-mic stealing the show.

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China marked the 80th anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender with a massive military parade in central Beijing a spectacle heavy with symbolism for both domestic audiences and the world. President Xi Jinping stood atop Tiananmen Rostrum in a high-collared Mao-style suit, reviewing ranks of troops, tanks, and missiles amid towering set pieces emblazoned "1945" and "2025". Flanking Xi were two controversial guests: Russia's Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong Un, whom Xi pointedly welcomed as "old friends" despite their pariah status in Western capitals. This unprecedented tableau Xi, Putin, and Kim appearing together publicly for the first time underscored a dramatic alignment of authoritarian power at a time of rising East-West tensions.

COMMEMORATING VICTORY, PROJECTING POWER

Officially, the September 3 parade commemorated China's victory over Japanese aggression and fascism in World War II (a holiday Beijing calls "Victory Day").

Xi's keynote speech before the parade wrapped China's display of might in the mantle of historical memory and peace. He hailed the defeat of Japan in 1945 as "China's first complete victory against foreign aggression in modern times," praising the "immense sacrifice" of the Chinese people in WWII.

The wartime struggle, Xi noted, "reshaped the national psyche" and paved the way for China's "national rejuvenation", a process he declared "unstoppable". Remembering history, Xi said, is meant "to create a better future and pass the torch of peace from generation to generation" - a line emphasizing China's preferred image as a guardian of peace.