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Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale
World
RFI

Tanks and missiles roll through Beijing as China commemorates 1945 victory

Chinese soldiers march during a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on 3 September 2025. AFP - GREG BAKER

China staged its largest-ever military parade in Beijing on Wednesday to mark 80 years since Japan’s surrender in the Second World War. President Xi Jinping stood in Tiananmen Square flanked by Russian leader Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un – a spectacle designed to show military power and political unity against the West.

The three men walked together down a red carpet in unprecedented scenes, Xi shaking their hands before inspecting massed troops and weaponry from an open-top limousine along Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue.

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