China’s military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II is underway in Beijing on Wednesday, with Chinese President Xi Jinping hosting more than two dozen foreign leaders.
The heavily-choreographed event will feature a parade of missiles and tanks rumbling past Tiananmen Square, soldiers goose-stepping in formation and fighter jets roaring over the capital, as China showcases its military prowess.
President Xi Jinping delivered an opening speech at the reviewing stand overlooking Tiananmen Square, before reviewing the troops in a limousine, occasionally saying, “Greetings, comrades!”
More than two dozen foreign leaders, including North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Min Aung Hlaing, the chief of Myanmar’s junta and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, were at the venue site, according to a broadcast feed by state media, with Western leaders largely absent.
The parade is designed to showcase some of the country’s newest weapons and commemorates the country’s “victory against Japanese aggression and the world’s victory against fascism.”
