A massive military parade will take place Wednesday in Beijing to mark 80 years since the end of World War II, in what is expected to be a show of strength by China’s armed forces.
More than 20 world leaders arrived in China this week, some of them also attending a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security bloc whose member states account for roughly 40% of the world’s population.
Among the leaders who traveled to Beijing are Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un also arrived Tuesday evening, traveling aboard an armored train with his daughter Kim Ju Ae.
Ju Ae, just 13, has increasingly been seen as her father’s potential successor. This marks the first time she has accompanied him to an international event, after appearing with him at missile tests and other high-profile occasions inside North Korea in recent years.
The ruling Kim family is notoriously private, and little is publicly known about them. The exact number of Kim’s children with his wife Ri Sol Ju remains unconfirmed, though reports suggest the couple has an eldest son and two daughters. According to South Korean media, their son was born in 2010, followed by daughters in 2013 and 2017. The middle child, born in 2013, is believed to be Ju Ae.
7 View gallery
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives in Beijing with his daughter Kim Ju Ae
(Photo: Kcna Via KNS )
7 View gallery
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Beijing with his daughter Kim Ju Ae
(Photo: KCNA Via KNS/ AFP )
Kim rarely leaves North Korea. This is his first visit to China since 2019, when he also traveled to Vietnam to meet then-U.S. President Donald Trump. A year earlier, he met Trump in Singapore. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he reportedly remained in North Korea. In 2023, he traveled to Russia for talks with Putin.
During his current visit, Kim is expected to meet both Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. In recent years, Pyongyang has prioritized closer ties with Moscow, providing soldiers and ammunition for Russia’s war against Ukraine in exchange for economic and military assistance. South Korea estimates North Korea sent about 15,000 troops to Russia last year, with roughly 2,000 of them killed in combat.
Unlike with Russia, ties with China — North Korea’s largest trading partner — have weakened in recent years. Analysts say Kim will seek to rebuild that relationship in Beijing.
7 View gallery
Chinese President Xi Jinping with Vladimir Putin in China
(Photo: Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
7 View gallery
Vladimir Putin with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in China
(Photo: Alexander Kazakov/ POOL / AFP)
7 View gallery
Recep Tayyip Erdogan with Vladimir Putin at a summit in China
(Photo: HANDOUT / TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)
Wednesday’s parade will mark the first time leaders of Russia, China and North Korea are present together at the same event, a move widely seen as an effort to present a united front against the United States and the West.
In a meeting Tuesday, Putin told Xi: “The close communication between us reflects the strategic nature of the relations between Russia and China, which are now at an unprecedented level.” Putin had arrived in China Sunday for the regional summit in Shanghai, where he and Xi also met with Pezeshkian.
Russia and China, both signatories to the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, voiced support for Tehran and condemned a decision by France, Britain and Germany to trigger the “snapback” mechanism that would reinstate U.N. sanctions. Xi told Pezeshkian on Tuesday that China opposes “the use of force to resolve disputes” and supports Iran “in safeguarding its national sovereignty.”
The parade in Beijing is expected to showcase an array of Chinese weaponry. The only Western leaders attending will be Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Both countries, during the war in Ukraine, have maintained close ties with Russia, which according to reports has received assistance from Beijing.