Chinese president Xi Jinping hailed his relationship with “old friend” Vladimir Putin on Tuesday as the two held talks in Beijing ahead of a landmark military parade.
China is hosting Mr Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un – the two aggressors in the Ukraine war – in Beijing ahead of the parade on Wednesday, with the three forming part of what analysts have dubbed an “Axis of Upheaval” bent on ending the US-dominated world order.
This week’s events represent an important moment for all three leaders, with both Mr Kim and Mr Putin having been rendered pariahs on the international stage over their roles in the invasion of Ukraine.
The three are expected to stand side-by-side as they oversee Wednesday morning’s parade, which marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
While Mr Putin arrived in China on Sunday to attend the regional Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit and has stayed on to attend the parade, the North Korean leader reached Beijing on Tuesday afternoon after travelling by land from Pyongyang using his slow, bullet-proof personal train.
Long-time allies China and Russia have only bolstered their relationship since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, inviting a raft of sanctions of Western nations.
Although China has said it is neutral in the Ukraine war and only supports peace, it has provided economic and diplomatic lifelines to Russia by purchasing its oil and ramping up trade and cooperation.
“Chinese-Russian relations have stood the test of international changes and serve as a model of interstate relations, eternal good-neighbourliness, friendship, comprehensive strategic interaction, mutually beneficial cooperation and win-win,” Mr Xi told the Russian president as the two sat down for their formal meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Beijing is ready to work with Moscow to push for a “more just and reasonable” global order, he said.
“China is willing to maintain close high-level interactions with Russia,” Mr Xi said. He also vowed to coordinate positions with Russia “in a timely manner” on issues relating to each other’s concerns and core interests.
In response, Mr Putin called Mr Xi a “dear friend” and said that Moscow’s relations with Beijing were “at an unprecedentedly high level”.
Their regular contact “reflects the strategic nature of Russian-Chinese ties”, Mr Putin said. "We were always together then, we remain together now," Mr Putin said.
The military parade, which is expected to showcase China’s military might, is Mr Xi’s way of countering America and other wealthy nations, experts have said.
"China is trying to say that it was a key member leading the establishment of the postwar global order," said Shin Kawashima, a China expert at the University of Tokyo, adding, "and that it has now reached a stage where it is catching up with and overtaking the United States”.
This is also the first time North Korea’s reclusive leader Mr Kim will appear at an international event gathering together multiple world leaders.
His attendance on Wednesday represents one of Mr Kim’s most significant foreign policy steps since the staging of summits with President Trump during the Republican’s first term, analysts and South Korean officials said.
"It's elevating North Korea's position to kind of the big boys, and then Kim can project that image back home like he did with his summit with Donald Trump, he can really show off his world statesman side," John Delury, a senior fellow at The Asia Society told Reuters, calling Mr Kim “a global brand”.
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Who is attending China’s military parade and what weapons are going to be shown off?
