Xi Jinping declares China ‘unstoppable’ at Beijing parade with Putin, Kim
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a stark warning to the US, as he was seen for the first time in person with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean tyrant Kim Jong-un.
Xi Jinping has declared China’s rise “unstoppable” in a defiant address as he was pictured in an unprecedented alliance with Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un.
In his address to Beijing’s mega military parade, attended by former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews, the Chinese President declared the world was at a turning point.
“Today, humanity is once again faced with critical choices,” he said in a speech given on Beijing’s Gate of Heavenly Peace.
“Peace or war? Dialogue or confrontation? Win-win co-operation or zero-sum rivalry? The Chinese people firmly stand on the right side of history and on the side of human civilisation and progress.”
He continued: “The rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is unstoppable and humanity’s cause of peace and development will prevail.”
Xi stressed China would “never be intimidated by bullies,” as he talked about the “huge national sacrifice” that Chinese people made to saving human civilisation.
“History cautions us that humanity rises and falls together,” he said.
“The Chinese nation is never intimidated by any bullies and always forges ahead.”
PUTIN, XI CAUGHT IN BIZARRE HOT MIC MOMENT
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping were overheard pondering immortality and the possibility of humans living 150 years in an unsettling hot-mic moment.
The unnerving moment was caught as Putin and Xi walked alongside Kim Jong-un as the trio viewed a military parade in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII.
“Biotechnology is continuously developing,” Mr Putin’s translator could be heard saying on a livestream broadcast on Chinese state media.
“Human organs can be continuously transplanted. The longer you live, the younger you become, and [you can] even achieve immortality.”
“Some predict that in this century humans may live to 150 years old,” Xi’s translator responded, adding at another point: “Earlier, people rarely lived to 70, but these days at 70 years you are still a child.”
Both Putin and Xi are 72.
The North Korean dictator, meanwhile, could be seen smiling and looking in the direction of Mr Putin and Xi as the rare hot-mic conversation unfolded.
It wasn’t clear if the conversation was being translated for him.
Audio of the exchange among the three men lasted less than a minute and repeatedly dropped out.
It comes as Donald Trump said that Mr Putin and Xi “were hoping I was watching” their joint appearance in Beijing.
“I thought it was very impressive, but I understood the reason they were doing it. And they were hoping I was watching — and I was watching,” Mr Trump said.
Asked whether he was invited to attend the lavish ceremony, Trump said he would not have attended even if he had been.
“It wouldn’t have been my place,” the Mr Trump said.
ANDREWS SHAKES HANDS WITH DICTATORS
Earlier, former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews was warmly greeted by the Chinese President on the red carpet at the mega military parade in Beijing marking 80 years since the end of World War II.
Mr Andrews shook Xi’s hand, then that of Xi’s wife Peng Liyuan, before the commemorations began.
The former Labor premier later appeared prominently in a group photograph that featured world leaders, including dictators Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean tyrant Kim Jong-un.
Former NSW Labor premier Bob Carr was also set to attend the parade, but pulled out at the last minute, leaving Mr Andrews as the only current or former Australian political leader present.
Mr Carr, who was also foreign minister under Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd, told The Australian he would still make an appearance at an indoor evening commemoration event, having opted to attend a different event earlier in the day.
Fraternal words with Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Sugiono, 10 months in the job. pic.twitter.com/eoa30tror5
— Bob Carr (@bobjcarr) September 3, 2025
He later tweeted images of himself at the event with Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Sugiono and former Japanese PM Yukio Hayoyama.
As the parade began, Donald Trump launched a surprise attack on Xi Jinping, accusing him of using the occasion to conspire with Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un against the United States.
“May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration,” he wrote.
“Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-un, as you conspire against the United States of America.”
The salvo is an extraordinary departure from his comments hours earlier where he reiterated his hope for a peace summit between Mr Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky following his bilateral meeting with the Russian leader in Alaska last month.
Asked if he saw the trio meeting together at the military parade as a challenge to the US, Mr Trump said no.
“China needs us and I have a very good relationship with President Xi as you know, but China needs us much more than we need them,” he said.
“I had a very good meeting with President Putin a couple of weeks ago. We’ll see if anything comes out of it. If it doesn’t, we’ll take a different stance.”
Mr Trump mused whether President Xi would mention the “massive amount of support and blood that the United States of America gave to China in order to help it to secure its freedom from a very unfriendly foreign invader”.
“Many Americans died in China’s quest for victory and glory,” Mr Trump said.
“I hope that they are rightfully honoured and remembered for their bravery and sacrifice!”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declined to criticise Mr Andrews for his attendance at the massive Victory Day parade.
The Prime Minister was asked in Canberra whether he “liked” the fact Mr Andrews was there. “He’s not meeting (Putin and Kim),” Mr Albanese said.
It’s understood Australia’s envoy, Scott Dewar, was invited to Wednesday’s parade but declined.
However, Australia has sent the embassy’s defence attache and political counsellor.
ANDREWS ATTENDING ‘AS PRIVATE INDIVIDUAL’
Victorian government minister Vicki Ward deflected questions about Mr Andrews’s visit on Wednesday, saying he was “going as a private individual and these are choices that he’s made in a private capacity”.
“It’s a matter for Daniel Andrews and I’m really not going to comment on choices that he has made,” she told reporters.
In a tense press conference, she was pressed on criticism from Taiwan over his visit and whether he was too close to China, prompting her to respond: “What’s the connotation here?”
She went on to say that it was important that the government maintained healthy relationships with countries in our region.
“It is very, very important that we have very careful, considered conversations around our relationships, both in this state but also external to this state,” Ms Ward said.
As private citizens, both Mr Andrews and Mr Carr are free to attend without Canberra’s sign-off and it is understood the Albanese government was not consulted on their plans to attend.
Former Labor Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Mr Andrews and Mr Carr had gone a “bridge too far” and their attendance sent “mixed messages”.
“I respect Dan, I respect Bob, but I think they’ve just gone the next level,” Ms Palaszczuk told Sky News.
“Go there for a holiday, do your business talks, but there’s no need to attend this military parade.
“Trade is one thing, and tourism, but military parades … I would honestly stop and think seriously about that,” she said.
China is showcasing its military prowess with troops marching in formation, fly-pasts and displays of hi-tech fighting gear at the showpiece extravaganza centred on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to mark 80 years since the end of WWII.
Millions of Chinese people were killed during a prolonged war with imperial Japan in the 1930s and ’40s, which became part of a global conflict following Tokyo’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
All eyes will be on how the trio of Xi, Putin and Kim – who rarely leaves secretive North Korea – interact with each other in a highly choreographed photo opportunity seen as a coup for China on the world stage.
The 70-minute event is the climax of a whirlwind week for President Xi, who hosted a slew of Eurasian leaders for a summit in the northern port city of Tianjin aimed at putting China front and centre of regional relations.
The club of 10 countries, named the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), touts itself as a non-Western style of collaboration in the region and seeks to be an alternative to traditional alliances.
During the summit, Xi slammed “bullying behaviour” from certain countries – a veiled reference to the United States – while Putin defended Russia’s Ukraine offensive, blaming the West for triggering the conflict.
Security around Beijing has tightened in recent days and weeks, with road closures, military personnel stationed on bridges and street corners, and miles upon miles of white barriers lining the capital’s wide boulevards.
Art installations with flowers, doves and an emblem showing the Great Wall of China with “1945-2025” have cropped up around the city, and Chinese flags are flying in residential neighbourhoods.
China has touted the parade as a show of unity with other countries, and Kim’s attendance will be the first time he is seen with Xi and Putin at the same event. It is only his second reported trip abroad in six years.
His olive-green train arrived at Beijing Railway Station to much fanfare before the parade, with small North Korean flags flying over one coach.
Photos released by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) showed Kim smoking a cigarette outside a carriage with Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and close aide Jo Yong Won.
Another pictured Kim grinning inside his lavish, wood-lined train carriage in front of a national flag and emblem.
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