China hosted its largest ever Victory Day parade to celebrate Japan’s surrender in World War 2 — then China’s occupying nation. The parade featured a display of the nation’s military firepower, and 26 world leaders were invited, but President Xi Jinping never drifted too far away from his Russian and North Korean counterparts. A move that Donald Trump read as an act of conspiring against the US.
Trump has never made it a secret how much he admires Russian President Vladimir Putin (he has also openly and controversially praised President Xi and Kim Jong Un, as well as their much-criticized style of administration). However, that admiration is seemingly unrequited. On Aug. 15, 2025, Trump hosted the Russian president in a summit he was hoping would enable him to broker a deal to finally end the Ukrainian-Russian war and improve his chance for his coveted Nobel Peace Prize.
Putin didn’t give Trump any such deal and instead just emboldened the president’s fixation on how he was supposedly rigged out of the 2020 Election win. A little over a month later, Putin was in China next to President Xi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, taking photo ops as China showcased its military power. And Trump took to Truth Social to seemingly show his disappointment that he was not part of the 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 his Truth Social account. Elsewhere in the post, he also wrote that he hopes China also honors the Americans who gave the Chinese a “massive amount of support and blood” in the war. Something he certainly chose not to extend to the French soldiers when Trump had his own celebration of D-Day not too long ago.
BBC was able to reach Trump for comment about whether he believed this was a signifier that China is forming an alliance with Russia and North Korea to counter his tariffs. Trump responded, “I have a very good relationship with President Xi, as you know. But China needs us much more than we need them. I don’t see that at all.”
Trump added that the show of ‘military might’ by China didn’t worry him either. Trump mentioned that since the US still has the strongest military in the world, it’s very unlikely that China would ever try to use its military forces against the US.
Trump also shared that he’s very disappointed in the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Trump was uncharacteristically unkind to Putin for his unending war in Ukraine. He also added a vague statement that he will be doing something “to help” the people in Ukraine live.
While Trump had no problem airing out his disagreements with how Ukraine was handling the war against Russia, China had no such qualms with its Russian ally on the public stage. China still has yet to condemn or criticize Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. China has actually been flouting Russian sanctions by purchasing Russian oil and supplying them with dual-use materials.
The situation in geopolitics is still ever-evolving, especially where Russia is involved. But all now points to Russia and China exploring an economic alliance.
