US and European leaders reacted with veneration, concern and stiffened resolve on Wednesday to China’s epic military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Over 25 foreign leaders – including Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un – joined Chinese President Xi Jinping at the showcase event marked by intimidating weaponry and choreographed troop manoeuvres.
“I thought it was very, very impressive, but I understood the reason they were doing it,” US President Donald Trump said in the Oval Office as he met with Polish President Karol Nawrocki on Wednesday, suggesting it was because he was watching. “And I was watching,” he added.
Trump appeared particularly concerned that Washington was not getting enough credit. “I don’t believe that America, that the United States, was acknowledged for helping China to get, to gain, its freedom,” he added. “President Xi is a friend of mine, but I thought that the United States should have been mentioned last night during that speech because we helped China, very, very much.”
Trump said his relationship with “all of them” was very good. “We’re going to find out how good it is over the next week or two,” he added without further explanation.
This came a few hours after Trump offered his congratulations to China even as he appeared to accuse Xi, Putin and Kim of colluding. “May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration. Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against the United States of America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday on Fox News that the televised images of the parade highlighted how China and Russia were more closely aligned, signalling the importance of rebuilding the US military in “historic ways to restore the warrior ethos and re-establish deterrence”.
Washington does not seek conflict with “China, Russia, others”, he said, even as it needs to remain vigilant.
“Demonstrations of parades are fine, but they don’t, hopefully, manifest [actual] military conflict,” Hegseth said. “We also know how strong we are in the military advantages we have. They know that also our job’s to maintain those military advantages in space, in the skies, in the sea.”
Hegseth blamed closer Beijing-Moscow relations on the former presidential administration of Joe Biden. Biden adopted a strategy of strengthening US alliances, while Trump has unsettled some long-time US partners by raising tariffs and demanding higher military burden sharing.
Across the Atlantic, top European Union diplomat Kaja Kallas said the autocrats gathered in Beijing were “seeking a fast track to a new world order”.
“This is a direct challenge to the international system built on rules,” the Estonian official added at a press conference in Brussels, citing Chinese support for Russia’s war with Ukraine. “It’s not just symbolic.”
Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, said Europe’s geopolitical clout needs to match its economic strength in order to push back on this nascent new world order.
“We make all these points, but the Chinese know we’re not acting on them,” she said of China’s unwillingness to give ground at July’s summit with EU leaders in Beijing.
Kallas stopped short of directly criticising the United States, citing a recent improvement in transatlantic relations. But she urged Washington to cooperate with Europe on joint policies towards China. “We should really stick together with like-minded partners,” she said. “The transatlantic alliance is super important.”
Some social media posts on Wednesday contrasted China’s imposing parade with one that Trump staged on June 14 for the 250th anniversary of the US Army – and his 79th birthday – marked by support from his base but also rainy weather, nationwide protests and criticism over its estimated US$35 million price tag.
“China kinda makes our military parade look like amateur hour,” said one posting on X. “I hope Trump is watching China’s military parade and takes notes. This is how you do it!” said another.
Asked about the cost of the Beijing event, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said it was “not familiar with the details”.
Analysts said Beijing had several objectives with the parade. In addition to highlighting national pride, it allowed China to showcase its military equipment to potential arms buyers Russia, North Korea and Iran, said Larry Wortzel, a fellow with the American Foreign Policy Council.
“It’s a long-term plan to create an alternative to the Western democratic world order that has foreign policy, defence, information and finance-economic components,” said Wortzel, a former military attaché with the US Embassy in Beijing.
Questions related to the sophisticated weapons systems that Beijing displayed this week include whether China’s military, with its recent leadership purges, has the organisational and alliance structure to deploy them effectively and whether the US has the supply chain and strategy to counter them.
“Assembling world leaders isn’t the same as assembling a warfighting coalition,” said Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the non-partisan Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
And despite this week’s muscular show of force and goose-stepping soldiers, Beijing is still engaged in a geopolitical balancing act.
“Beijing’s triumphalist rhetoric should not be taken at face value,” said Alicja Bachulska, a European Council on Foreign Relations fellow. “China is far from being able, or willing to, replace the US as a global public goods provider. Nevertheless, it is willing to exploit the current situation to build its image as a responsible and reliable partner, unlike the US under Donald Trump, and to capitalise on it.” - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
