Afternoon Xi

CHINA'S Xi Jinping puts on a lavish spread for Russia's Viadimir Putin at a despots’ tea party.

- BY CHRIS HUGHES

The pair met at The Great Hall of the People in Beijing, as North Korea's Kim Jong-Un also arrived for a summit billed as an anti-NATO conference.

The three leaders are expected to attend a military parade in a show of three-way unity against the United States and other Western countries.

Today's parade will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and China's fight against Japan's wartime aggression, with Tokyo now an ally of the west.