Dressed in a gray suit with a traditional collar and standing upright in his open-roof limousine, Xi Jinping rode up the vast Avenue of Eternal Peace in Beijing. He reviewed 45 formations of the People's Liberation Army, his face expressionless. "Comrades, you have endured hardship!" the Chinese president said to his troops. "At the service of the people!" the men and women in khaki, light beige, navy blue, and white uniforms responded, their heads turning mechanically to follow the leader with an unblinking, steely gaze despite the oppressive heat already gripping the capital that morning.

Showcasing China's modernized deterrence capabilities, tens of thousands of soldiers marched, accompanied by a display of new weapons, drones, fighter jets, strategic bombers, and hypersonic and nuclear missiles. On Wednesday, September 3, Xi transformed the 80^th anniversary celebrations of the end of World War II – known in China as the "Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression" and the "World Anti-Fascist War" – into an enormous display of strength intended for the entire world, particularly its adversaries.

Just a few dozen minutes earlier, Xi, the head of the state, the party, and the army for over 12 years, stepped up to the podium at the entrance to the Forbidden City on Tiananmen Square. He was flanked on his right by Russian President Vladimir Putin and on his left by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Having arrived the day before in his armored train with his daughter, the North Korean dictator relished the prominent position between these two geopolitical giants. It was also a way for China to assert its preeminence following the recent rapprochement between North Korea and Russia, demonstrated by the deployment of North Korean troops to Ukraine.

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