The Guardian view on Xi, Putin and Kim: heed China’s statement of intent, but don’t take it as fact

From left, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un. ‘There are frictions in and limits to the ties, though that need not prevent them enduring or causing lasting damage.’ Photograph: Rao Aimin/AP

On Wednesday morning, Beijingers living near Tiananmen Square were issued with cold breakfast packs and ordered to refrain from cooking, lest smoke from stoves cloud the skies above the mammoth military parade. China’s Communist party goes to extraordinary lengths to ensure that nothing obscures the message of such performances – in this case, that Xi Jinping is reshaping the global order and that China is, in his words, “unstoppable”.

The parade marked 80 years since the end of the second world war, positioning China as the critical force in victory in the east then, and a force to be similarly reckoned with today as “humanity is again faced with the choice of peace or war, dialogue or confrontation, win-win or zero-sum”, in Mr Xi’s words. China is “not afraid of bullies”.