On September 3, an estimated 50,000 spectators, according to the Chinese government, and authoritarian leaders—along with left-wing representatives from U.S. allies, like Australia and South Korea—gathered in Tiananmen Square for a military parade to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Imperial Japan’s defeat in World War II.
Far from projecting strength, the parade revealed Beijing’s insecurities, exposing a regime that masks its growing troubles with revisionist history, saber-rattling, and pageantry.
Chinese Communist forces contributed very little to this defeat. It was primarily the Chinese Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek and Allied forces who put their lives on the line to fight the Japanese military. The U.S. ultimately forced Imperial Japan to surrender in 1945.
President Trump was watching the military parade—as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit that took place in Tianjin a couple days earlier—closely, pointing out the American military’s role in defeating the Japanese, while also sending a very pointed message of strength to Xi:
The Chinese Communists, in contrast, launched only low-scale guerrilla attacks against the Japanese military. Mao’s main goal was to amass more power in order to weaken and defeat Chiang’s Kuomintang (KMT). The United Front between the Communists and Nationalists was not so united after all—and casualty records prove that the KMT and Allied forces did the vast majority of the fighting.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long relied heavily on historical revisionism, whether to assert its claims over areas that were historically never under Chinese control, such as Tibet and East Turkestan, or to distort and subsequently censor sensitive events, like the Tiananmen Massacre.
Some American media outlets framed this parade as a show of China’s military might, promoting Beijing’s propaganda. This parade was rather intended to instill fear. It is essential to note, however, that contrary to the media’s claims, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) capabilities are untested in combat. The last large-scale conflict the PLA was involved in was the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War, which ended in Beijing’s defeat.
Corruption and internal power struggles remain serious challenges for the PLA.
This military parade was also part of Xi’s efforts to shore up nationalism within China, framing the CCP as the sole “protector” of the Chinese nation. This comes at a time when China’s economy finds itself in a deflationary spiral, exposing the fragility of Xi’s legitimacy and the CCP’s grip on power. Urban and rural economic protests—driven by unemployment and unpaid wages—and other signs of anti-regime sentiment have been increasing across the country.
Perhaps most importantly, though, the parade highlighted significant geopolitical dynamics.
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This event was a clear signal to Washington and the rest of the free world of China’s aspirations to create a new world order, aimed at supplanting the U.S. and its allies. It was an Axis of Evil meeting between China, Russia, and North Korea, the three leaders’ first appearance together in public. Xi seized the opportunity to present himself as the head of this coalition of adversarial countries.
But this military parade that was meant to serve as a signal of power and unity between countries that oppose the West instead served as a reminder of just how weak this axis may prove to be. Many of these countries remain distrustful of one another. There is much more that divides them than unites them.
Take Sino-Russian relations as an example. Though Russia and China are aligned in their quest to destroy the U.S. and undermine its allies, their relationship is anything but equal, skewed heavily in Beijing’s favor. It is a “no limits partnership” with limits.
The long history of distrust between the two countries certainly does not help either. It was soon after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China that the Sino-Soviet split occurred due to the Soviet Union’s de-Stalinization, conflicting interpretations of Marxism-Leninism, and competing national interests. During this time, the two countries found themselves in heated border disputes with one another.
Today, Russia is embroiled in war, a situation that benefits China in various ways, and is increasingly economically dependent on China. Over 90% of foreign investment in Russia’s Far East and Tatarstan comes from China.
China continues to challenge Russian influence throughout Central Asia. Beijing has replaced Russia as the top trading partner of all five Central Asian states—a development that has caused anxiety in Moscow.
Russia has had to sell off its resources to Beijing in exchange for payments, which some Russian sources claim stop from time to time, and grant market access to Chinese goods. It is clear that Beijing is buying control of Russia and surrounding areas—and Putin is well-aware of this.
Similarly, despite China’s backing of North Korea during the Korean War and North Korea’s economic dependence on China, relations between Pyongyang and Beijing have always been marked by mutual suspicion. The two sides have been involved in territorial disputes regarding Mt. Baekdu—a national symbol for both Koreas and the birthplace of Kim Jong Il, according to North Korean propaganda.
Tensions flared last year when China arrested a North Korean spy. Later in the year, Kim Jong Un went so far as to refer to China as a “long-standing enemy.” In an attempt to counterbalance Beijing, North Korea and Russia signed a security cooperation pact last year, with Pyongyang sending troops to fight for Russia in Ukraine.
Beijing has consistently viewed a nuclear-armed Pyongyang as a liability to its strategic interests in the region.
Xi aimed to project power with this military parade. Instead, it revealed Beijing’s domestic insecurities and reminded the world that behind the smiles of these dictators, deep fissures remain.
It is better for Washington to be overprepared than underprepared, especially considering that Beijing employs unrestricted warfare. Downplaying the threat posed by any of these regimes encourages complacency, which is not the path this country needs to head down.
But as is often the case, Washington holds the cards. Now is the time for the Trump administration to continue exploiting all the weaknesses between these malign actors—as President Trump has threatened to do to the BRICS grouping, for instance—to further rupture this coalition.
The Trump administration has put pressure on Beijing, but more can be done. Time to hit China—the main authoritarian financier and enabler, one that is increasingly vulnerable—even harder.
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