{ "id": "2025-china-victory-day-parade", "title": "2025 China Victory Day Parade", "lang": "en", "source_lang": "en", "summary": "A military parade held in Beijing on 3 September 2025 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II.", "category": "society", "subcategory": "politics", "type": "event", "aliases": [ "2025 China V-Day Parade", "2025 September 3 Military Parade", "2025 Chinese Victory Day Parade" ], "generated_at": "2026-10-15", "model": "pro/gpt-6.1-sol", "url": "https://aiwiki.page/en/2025-china-victory-day-parade/", "translations": { "zh-Hans": { "url": "https://aiwiki.page/zh/2025-china-victory-day-parade/", "json": "https://aiwiki.page/zh/2025-china-victory-day-parade.json" } }, "sections": [ { "heading": "", "text": "The 2025 China Victory Day Parade was a military parade held along Chang’an Avenue and at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, on 3 September 2025. It formed part of the national commemoration of the 80th anniversary of victory in the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, officially described in China as the “Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.” Xi Jinping reviewed the participating forces. It was China’s second military parade specifically commemorating the wartime victory, following the event held in 2015. (english.www.gov.cn)\n\nThe approximately 70-minute parade comprised 45 formations and aerial echelons, combining marching personnel, historical battle flags, military vehicles, missiles and aircraft. It provided a public presentation of China’s armed forces and military equipment within a ceremony of wartime remembrance. Leaders from 26 foreign countries attended, including Russian president Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The event brought together historical commemoration, military ceremonial practice and international diplomacy. (app.xinhuanet.com)" }, { "heading": "Historical background and the commemorative date", "text": "The parade held in Beijing on 3 September 2025 marked the eightieth anniversary of victory in what Chinese official terminology calls the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. These names connect China’s conflict with Japan to the wider Allied victory in World War II. The full-scale Second Sino-Japanese War began after the clash at the Marco Polo Bridge near Beijing on 7 July 1937; Chinese official commemoration uses a broader chronology beginning with Japanese aggression in 1931. The war in China subsequently became part of the global conflict, particularly after Japan’s attacks on the Western Allies in December 1941 and the formation of a Chinese–American military alliance. The anniversary therefore commemorated both the defeat of Japan in China and the conclusion of the wider war, rather than two unrelated victories. (english.www.gov.cn)\n\nThe commemorative date is distinct from the date of the formal Japanese surrender. On 2 September 1945, Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and General Yoshijirō Umezu signed the Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, representing the Japanese government and Imperial General Headquarters respectively. General Douglas MacArthur accepted the surrender for the Allied powers. The instrument proclaimed the unconditional surrender of Japanese armed forces and forces under Japanese control, wherever situated. China’s observance on 3 September falls on the following day; it does not indicate that the Tokyo Bay signing occurred on that date. (archives.gov)\n\nThe People’s Republic of China had recognized 3 September as the victory anniversary well before 2014. A circular issued by the Government Administration Council on 13 August 1951 designated the date as China’s Victory Day. On 27 February 2014, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress formally reaffirmed the designation through a legislative decision adopted at the seventh session of the Twelfth National People’s Congress Standing Committee. The decision provided for national commemorative activities on 3 September each year. Its stated purposes included remembering the resistance, honoring those killed and others who contributed to victory, and recognizing the Chinese war’s place within the worldwide struggle against fascism. The 2014 action thus gave legislative confirmation to an existing commemorative date rather than creating an entirely new anniversary. (english.scio.gov.cn)\n\nThe immediate ceremonial precedent for 2025 was the military parade of 3 September 2015, which marked the seventieth anniversary of the same wartime victory. Both took place in central Beijing and used the anniversary of 1945 as their organizing occasion; official reporting identified the 2025 event as the second victory-anniversary military parade following the 2015 ceremony. The intervening parade on 1 October 2019 belonged to a different commemorative sequence: it celebrated the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Although Xi Jinping reviewed troops at these ceremonies, the 2019 National Day parade commemorated the establishment of the state, whereas the September parades commemorated the end of the war against Japan. (english.www.gov.cn)" }, { "heading": "Organization, preparations and parade design", "text": "The military organizing arrangements were outlined at a State Council Information Office briefing on 20 August 2025. Major General Wu Zeke appeared as deputy director of the parade leading group’s office and deputy director of the Operations Bureau of the Central Military Commission Joint Staff Department. Major General Xu Guizhong represented the Central Theater Command as executive deputy director of its parade command organization’s office and deputy director of its Political Work Department. Their respective appointments identified both the central organizing body and the theater-level command organization involved in preparing the event. (app.xinhuanet.com)\n\nThe announced program separated the parade into two stages: an inspection of troops and a subsequent ceremonial procession, comprising the march-past and flypast. During the inspection, formations were to stand along Chang’an Avenue in Beijing for review by Xi Jinping. The moving procession would then pass through or over Tiananmen Square. Organizers announced approximately 70 minutes for the parade as a whole, rather than for either stage separately, and a total of 45 formations and aerial echelons. The prescribed sequence was an aerial flag escort, foot formations, a battle-flag formation, equipment columns, and concluding aerial echelons. Thus, aviation appeared at both ends of the procession rather than only in a single closing flypast. (english.www.gov.cn)\n\nThe formation design combined historical representation with the contemporary organization of the armed forces. Foot formations were described as representing both units with wartime lineages and the newer military force structure. Equipment columns were arranged according to joint operational groupings: land combat, maritime combat, air and missile defense, information operations, unmanned operations, logistics and equipment support, and strategic strike. The announced principle was therefore to group equipment by operational function, rather than simply present separate inventories for each service. The concluding aircraft were organized into modular, system-based formations incorporating airborne early-warning and command aircraft, fighters, bombers, and transports. (xinhuanet.com)\n\nPreparations required coordination among more than 10,000 personnel, more than 100 aircraft, and hundreds of items of ground equipment, according to Xu. He said the organizers used a wartime command framework and operational planning exercises to develop the parade arrangements. Training employed BeiDou positioning, computerized assessment, and simulation to support formation practice, air–ground coordination, complex scenarios, and responses to unexpected situations. Xu also described measures intended to limit disruption: concentrated training sites away from densely populated areas, joint rehearsals around Tiananmen Square on weekend nights, and large equipment held outside the urban area before moving into designated positions. Road and airspace restrictions were coordinated with the relevant civilian authorities. (xinhuanet.com)\n\nWu stated that all weapons and equipment selected for display were domestically produced main combat equipment in active service. This was an organizers’ description of the selection criteria, not an independent verification of each system’s operational status. He further described the equipment presentation as organized around combat modules, with newer systems forming its main component. The briefing identified selected land-, sea-, and air-based strategic weapons, hypersonic precision-strike equipment, and unmanned and counter-unmanned equipment as making their first public appearance; that announcement did not characterize every item in the parade as a public debut. (xinhuanet.com)" }, { "heading": "Opening ceremony, address and troop inspection", "text": "The commemorative gathering began at 9 a.m. on 3 September 2025 in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, with an 80-gun salute marking the anniversary. As those assembled stood, the national flag guard escorted the Chinese flag from the Monument to the People’s Heroes to the flag-raising area on the northern side of the square. The combined military band played the national anthem, “March of the Volunteers,” and participants sang as the flag was raised. Li Qiang presided over the gathering; Xi Jinping delivered the address and subsequently reviewed the troops in his capacities as president of China, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission. (cac.gov.cn)\n\nXi presented remembrance as the ceremony’s central purpose: honoring those who had died, preserving the memory of the war, cherishing peace and looking toward the future. He paid tribute to Chinese veterans and others who had contributed to resistance against Japan, and thanked foreign governments and individuals who had supported that resistance. In his account, the victory constituted China’s first complete victory over foreign aggression in modern times. He described the Chinese resistance as an integral part of World War II, referred to in the speech as the World Anti-Fascist War, and emphasized the contribution made through Chinese wartime sacrifice. These were the historical claims and commemorative themes advanced in the address. (news.cn)\n\nOn international affairs, Xi argued that equal treatment, peaceful coexistence and mutual assistance between nations were necessary to maintain common security and prevent another historical catastrophe. He described humanity as facing choices between peace and war, dialogue and confrontation, and mutually beneficial cooperation and zero-sum competition, while reaffirming China’s stated commitment to peaceful development. The address also connected commemoration with national development: Xi called for modernization under Communist Party leadership and urged the People’s Liberation Army to accelerate its development into a world-class military, defend national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, and provide strategic support for national rejuvenation. (english.www.gov.cn)\n\nAfter the speech, Xi entered a Hongqi inspection vehicle, crossed the Jinshui Bridge and proceeded onto Chang’an Avenue. Parade commander Han Shengyan reported that the formations were ready, and Xi ordered the inspection to begin. He first paid respects to the party, national and military flags, then drove past the assembled personnel, battle-flag and equipment formations to military-band accompaniment. During the inspection, he greeted the troops with “Greetings, comrades!” and acknowledged their hard work; they answered “Greetings, Chairman!” and “Serve the people!” As his vehicle returned toward Tiananmen, the troops called out slogans affirming obedience to the party, combat capability and discipline, followed by declarations that justice, peace and the people would prevail. (cac.gov.cn)\n\nXi then returned to the Tiananmen rostrum. At 9:44 a.m., the aerial flag escort opened the procession phase, marking the transition from the leader’s inspection of stationary formations to their passage before the reviewing stand. Helicopters carrying the party, national and military flags appeared over the square before the ground march-past began. (cac.gov.cn)" }, { "heading": "Marching personnel and historical battle flags", "text": "The honor guard headed the 13 foot formations, escorting the flags of the Chinese Communist Party, the People’s Republic of China and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). It was drawn from the PLA’s ceremonial unit, formed in October 2022 by merging the honor guard and military band. Its prescribed arrangement—nine personnel followed by 12 ranks of 17—comprised 213 participants. The three flags at the front were distinct from the service and branch flags carried by subsequent formations, which identified the organizations represented in the procession. (news.cn)\n\nThe marching order presented the contemporary military structure through separate formations for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Rocket Force, followed by the Aerospace Force, Cyberspace Force, Information Support Force and Joint Logistic Support Force. These represented the PLA’s four services and four arms. The People’s Armed Police, military reserve, militia and peacekeeping formations followed. Official reporting described the combined appearance of the four service formations, four arm formations and Armed Police formation carrying their respective flags as a parade first. Thus, the personnel sequence displayed organizational identities rather than simply grouping marchers by uniform or combat specialty. (cac.gov.cn)\n\nThe historical element was expressed through the selection of participating units as well as through flags. At the 20 August 2025 preparatory briefing, organizers characterized the foot formations as combining wartime predecessors with the armed forces’ newer structure. The Army contingent, for example, drew principally on units tracing their origins to the initial formations of the Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army during the war against Japan; their lineages covered all three Eighth Route Army divisions and four New Fourth Army detachments. These were present-day personnel representing inherited unit histories, not reconstructed wartime formations. Xinhua reported that 99 percent of the Army contingent came from grassroots units, with specialties including infantry, armor, artillery, reconnaissance, maintenance and driving. (app.xinhuanet.com)\n\nNot all marchers were PLA personnel. The People’s Armed Police formation was a separate contingent, drawn mainly from its Beijing contingent. The military reserve formation represented reserve units across the PLA’s eight services and arms, while the all-female militia formation represented both primary and ordinary militia. Official reporting identified this as the militia’s first appearance in a parade specifically commemorating victory in the war against Japan. The separate roster entries preserved the distinction between the PLA, Armed Police and militia within China’s armed forces, as well as between reservists and militia members. (news.cn)\n\nAfter the foot formations and before the equipment columns came a separate battle-flag formation carrying 80 honorary flags associated with distinguished wartime units. The flags were selected from across all five theater commands and represented regimental-, battalion- and company-level honors in units of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Armed Police. Their purpose was commemorative: they presented inherited honors from the war against Japan, rather than supplying another roster of the contemporary marching contingents. This was the second organized battle-flag formation in a major parade, following its introduction at the 2019 National Day parade. (news.cn)" }, { "heading": "Conventional equipment and support formations", "text": "The conventional equipment columns were organized around operational roles rather than presented simply as separate service inventories. At the preparatory briefing on 20 August 2025, organizers identified seven equipment groupings, including land combat, maritime combat, air and missile defense, and logistics and equipment support. These four groupings placed armored maneuver forces, naval weapons, defensive sensors and interceptors, and sustainment vehicles within the same procession. Information warfare, unmanned warfare and strategic strike formed the other three groupings, with their equipment displayed separately. (app.xinhuanet.com)\n\nThe ground-assault formation comprised 22 armored vehicles arranged in an arrow-shaped formation: Type 99B tanks, Type 100 tanks and Type 100 support combat vehicles. It was drawn principally from a combined-arms brigade of the 82nd Group Army. Xinhua identified the 99B as a development of the 99A, while presenting the Type 100 tank and support vehicle as distinct, complementary categories of armored equipment. The airborne-assault formation displayed three members of a tracked vehicle family: a multipurpose carrier, an airborne combat vehicle and a self-propelled howitzer. Official descriptions stated that these were designed for transport and airdrop by large military transport aircraft; their appearance in the parade was a ground display, not a demonstration of airborne deployment. (news.cn)\n\nOther land-combat columns represented amphibious maneuver and artillery support. The Marine Corps’ amphibious-assault formation included wheeled amphibious infantry fighting vehicles, assault vehicles and self-propelled howitzers. The long-range artillery formation carried 16 Type 191 containerized rocket launchers, preceded by two guide vehicles. These categories distinguished troop-carrying, direct-fire and indirect-fire equipment without establishing their battlefield performance through the ceremonial display. (news.cn)\n\nThe maritime presentation included shipborne air-defense weapons, anti-ship missiles and underwater weapons, all carried through the square on land vehicles. The anti-ship missile formation consisted of two guide vehicles and 16 carriers displaying YJ-15, YJ-19, YJ-17 and YJ-20 missiles. Xinhua described the latter three as hypersonic and associated the four missile types collectively with carrier aircraft, surface ships and submarines; it did not provide a complete missile-by-missile platform assignment. The carriers therefore should not be read as evidence that every displayed missile was a land-launched system. The shipborne air-defense column similarly transported naval weapons—including HHQ-9C, HQ-16C and HQ-10A missiles—rather than demonstrating their operation aboard warships. (news.cn)\n\nAir and missile defense followed the maritime columns. An early-warning and detection formation displayed four types of mobile radar, followed by an air-defense formation containing six equipment types, including HQ-20, HQ-19 and HQ-29 systems. Official reporting described their collective role as combining short-, medium- and long-range air defense with interception at multiple stages and layers. This was an attributed description of the intended defensive architecture, not a test of interception performance during the parade. (news.cn)\n\nThe logistics and equipment-support group appeared after the unmanned formations and before the strategic-strike columns. Its logistics formation, drawn from the Joint Logistics Support Force, displayed field ambulances, a tent-hospital system, fuel transport and dispensing vehicles, and a hot-meal support system. The separate equipment-support formation came from an army combined-arms brigade in the Northern Theater Command. It carried recovery and repair vehicles, component-handling repair vehicles, and electromechanical inspection and maintenance vehicles. Their announced tasks included towing disabled equipment, lifting and replacing major components, and conducting field diagnosis and repairs—functions distinct from both medical and supply support and the weapons carried by the combat formations. (news.cn)" }, { "heading": "Information warfare, unmanned systems and counter-drone equipment", "text": "The information-warfare group in the 3 September 2025 parade comprised three equipment formations: cyberspace operations, electronic countermeasures and information support. These were distinct from the corresponding personnel contingents marching earlier in the procession. Official descriptions assigned the cyberspace formation four equipment types combining command and control, reconnaissance and network-electromagnetic confrontation. The electronic-countermeasures formation displayed five types described as supporting electronic reconnaissance, attack and protection; its personnel came from both the Aerospace Force and the Northern Theater Command’s army units. These descriptions identified broad electronic-warfare functions, rather than disclosing operating frequencies, interception methods or classified targets. (sastind.gov.cn)\n\nThe information-support formation emphasized the communications and data infrastructure connecting combat forces. Its vehicles were officially described as battlefield network-cloud, digital-intelligence enablement, space–ground networking and information-fusion vehicles. Xinhua stated that they could rapidly establish a networked information system supporting joint operations. In this presentation, communications links, data integration and information protection were enabling functions, distinct from the electronic-countermeasures formation’s disruption of opposing systems. The vehicle categories established the roles publicly assigned to the equipment, but did not establish the architecture, capacity or security of the networks involved. (news.cn)\n\nThe unmanned-combat group was divided by operating environment into ground, maritime and aerial formations. On land, the displayed vehicles covered reconnaissance and assault, mine clearance and explosive-ordnance disposal, and infantry-squad support. Official reporting assigned the support vehicles ammunition and supply carriage, with casualty transport as an additional task; the formation was drawn principally from the 71st Group Army. At sea, the categories were unmanned underwater vehicles, unmanned surface craft and unmanned minelaying systems. Xinhua attributed autonomous detection and identification, covert deployment and networked group attacks to this maritime equipment. These were descriptions of intended capabilities, not demonstrations conducted during the procession. (news.cn)\n\nThe aerial formation displayed reconnaissance-strike drones, unmanned wingmen and shipborne unmanned helicopters, with five equipment types and seven variants reported officially. Their assigned tasks included reconnaissance, surveillance and attack from land- and ship-based operating environments. They appeared in the ground procession on transport vehicles, rather than as crewed aircraft in the flypast. “Unmanned” identified platforms without onboard crews; it did not establish whether each function was remotely controlled or autonomous. Although official reporting used terms such as autonomous coordination, the display did not reveal how navigation, target selection and weapons employment were divided between operators and onboard systems. (news.cn)\n\nCounter-drone equipment appeared in a separate formation combining army and air-force personnel. Its publicly identified categories included missile-and-gun systems, high-energy laser weapons and high-power microwave weapons. Official reporting presented these as complementary means of countering drones and loitering munitions through both disruption and physical destruction. The parade documented their public presentation, not successful engagements: no interception trial established effective range, engagement time or performance against multiple targets. At the preparatory briefing on 20 August 2025, organizers had stated that some unmanned and counter-unmanned equipment would be displayed publicly for the first time. That qualified announcement concerned portions of those categories, rather than every drone, unmanned vehicle or counter-drone system in the parade. (news.cn)" }, { "heading": "Strategic missiles and the nuclear-force presentation", "text": "The strategic-strike group concluded the equipment procession on 3 September 2025, following the logistics and equipment-support group and preceding the concluding aviation formations. It comprised four formations in sequence: cruise missiles, hypersonic missiles, a first nuclear-missile formation combining air-, sea- and land-based weapons, and a second nuclear-missile formation displaying the DF-5C. Its organization therefore distinguished long-range precision-strike weapons from the explicitly identified nuclear-weapons delivery systems; “strategic strike” was not used as a synonym for nuclear armament. (app.xinhuanet.com)\n\nThe cruise-missile formation brought together Navy, Air Force and Rocket Force personnel and displayed the CJ-20A, YJ-18C and CJ-1000. Xinhua identified these respectively as an air-launched cruise missile, a naval land-attack cruise missile and a Rocket Force hypersonic cruise missile, presenting their role as long-range precision attack. The following hypersonic-missile formation carried the YJ-21, DF-17 and DF-26D. These two formations were separate from the nuclear columns that followed: their placement and official descriptions emphasized precision-strike missions rather than constituting evidence that every missile in the strategic-strike group carried a nuclear warhead. (news.cn)\n\nThe first nuclear-missile formation presented what official reporting described as the first collective parade display of China’s nuclear triad. Its equipment appeared in the announced order of JingLei-1, or JL-1, air-based long-range missiles; JuLang-3, or JL-3, submarine-launched intercontinental missiles; DF-61 land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles; and a new DF-31 variant. The formation combined personnel from Air Force and Navy bases and a Rocket Force brigade. The air- and sea-based designations referred to the weapons’ intended launch environments: their appearance on road vehicles in the ground procession was not an airborne launch demonstration or a display aboard submarines. The similar abbreviations JL-1 and JL-3 represented different names—JingLei and JuLang—and different delivery categories. (news.cn)\n\nThe displayed land-based systems included the DF-61 and DF-31BJ. Initial Xinhua formation descriptions called the latter a “new type” DF-31, whereas the more specific DF-31BJ designation appeared in the question-and-answer record of the Ministry of National Defense’s September 2025 press conference. The DF-5C followed in the second nuclear-missile formation, the final formation of the equipment procession. Xinhua recorded 12 large missile transport vehicles and identified the weapon as a liquid-fueled intercontinental strategic nuclear missile. That count described parade vehicles, not an independently established total of operational missiles or launch sites. (news.cn)\n\nOfficial descriptions attributed “global” reach and continuous readiness to the DF-5C, but the procession itself demonstrated neither flight range nor alert status. The documentary distinction is between identifiable equipment, formation composition and public statements on one hand, and independently established deployment, warhead configuration and operational readiness on the other. Likewise, the official claim of a first collective triad presentation concerned the ceremony’s public arrangement; it did not establish that all three delivery components first entered service on 3 September 2025. (news.cn)" }, { "heading": "Aviation formations and closing symbolism", "text": "The opening aerial flag escort comprised 45 helicopters and preceded the marching personnel and equipment columns over Tiananmen Square in Beijing on 3 September 2025. Three Z-20 utility helicopters carried, respectively, the flags of the Chinese Communist Party, the People’s Republic of China and the People’s Liberation Army; each had two Z-10 attack helicopters as escorts. Behind them, 26 Z-19 helicopters formed the numerals “80,” marking the eightieth anniversary of victory in the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. Three Z-8L transport helicopters carried banners reading “Justice Prevails,” “Peace Prevails” and “The People Prevail,” accompanied by seven Z-20T helicopters. (news.cn)\n\nThe concluding fixed-wing flypast followed the ground equipment procession. At the 20 August preparatory briefing, organizers described its design as modular and system-based, grouping aircraft by operational role rather than presenting an undifferentiated succession of combat aircraft. Early-warning and command, special-mission, transport, bomber, tanker, fighter, carrier-based and training formations consequently represented different components of military aviation. These were aircraft actually flown overhead: they were distinct from the unmanned aircraft, air-launched missiles and other aviation-related equipment carried through the square on road vehicles. The aerial and ground displays thus occupied separate positions in the announced procession, although both included equipment associated with air operations. (app.xinhuanet.com)\n\nThe airborne early-warning and control formation paired the KJ-500A with J-16 fighter escorts and the carrier-based KJ-600 with J-15T escorts. Special-mission aircraft extended the presentation beyond fighters and bombers to anti-submarine patrol, electronic reconnaissance and radar-jamming roles. Transport aviation was represented by three Y-20A and three Y-20B aircraft flying in two wedge formations. Their inclusion placed air movement and logistical support alongside surveillance, command and strike functions within the concluding sequence. (english.news.cn)\n\nThe bomber formation included H-6N, H-6K and H-6J variants, while a separate tanker-and-receiver formation presented aerial refueling as a supporting function. Fighter formations included J-16, J-20 and J-35 variants, with naval aircraft presented in a separate carrier-based grouping. The final training formation comprised five JL-10 aircraft, five J-10S aircraft and seven J-10 display aircraft from the August 1st Aerobatic Team. According to Xinhua’s live account, the seven display aircraft produced fourteen trails of colored smoke, referring to the fourteen-year wartime period used in China’s official commemoration. (airuniversity.af.edu)\n\nThe ceremony closed with the release of 80,000 doves and 80,000 balloons, repeating the anniversary number already rendered by the opening helicopters. Hong Kong’s official account identified these releases as the ceremony’s closing act. Xinhua recorded Premier Li Qiang’s instruction to release the doves and reported that the gathering ended to the music of “Ode to the Motherland,” while Xi Jinping and other leaders waved to the spectators. The doves were explicitly presented in the official narration as symbols of peace. (news.gov.hk)" }, { "heading": "Chinese and international attendance", "text": "Xi Jinping headed the Chinese leadership at the ceremony on 3 September 2025. Li Qiang presided, while the other serving members of the Chinese Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee—Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi—and Vice President Han Zheng attended. The official record separately identified retired leaders, including former premier Wen Jiabao and former senior officials Li Ruihuan, Jia Qinglin, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Li Zhanshu and Wang Yang. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee and Macao Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai were also present. (cac.gov.cn)\n\nCommemorative invitees included veterans and other surviving wartime participants, representatives of civilians who had supported the war effort, relatives of fallen personnel, Kuomintang veterans of the resistance against Japan, and descendants of wartime commanders. Other domestic guest categories included national medal recipients, model workers and other honorees, religious and ethnic-minority representatives, academics, and representatives from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and overseas Chinese communities. These guests were distinguished in the attendance record from serving and retired officeholders. (cac.gov.cn)\n\nLeaders from 26 foreign countries attended, alongside representatives serving in other capacities. National leaders included Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto, Vietnam’s Luong Cuong, Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim, Pakistan’s Shehbaz Sharif, Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian, Serbia’s Aleksandar Vučić and Slovakia’s Robert Fico. The 26-country figure was narrower than the official total of 61 invited foreign dignitaries, which also encompassed senior representatives, international-organization officials and former political leaders. South Korea, for example, was represented by National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, and Singapore by Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, rather than their heads of state or government. The international guests also included United Nations Under-Secretary-General Li Junhua and former Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama. (apnews.com)\n\nRussian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un occupied especially prominent positions beside Xi. Photographs and contemporaneous reporting documented the three walking together toward the Tiananmen viewing platform, with other leaders following behind; Putin and Kim also flanked Xi during the viewing arrangements. Xi conversed with both men during the approach, including an exchange with Kim through an interpreter. Their placement documented ceremonial prominence, not the establishment of a formal three-country alliance. (apnews.com)\n\nThe parade followed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin on 31 August–1 September 2025, allowing some visiting leaders to attend both events. The SCO’s Council of Heads of State met on 1 September under Xi’s chairmanship, with Putin, Pezeshkian, Sharif and several Central Asian presidents among those present who subsequently attended the parade. The two attendance lists nevertheless remained distinct: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the Tianjin summit but did not attend the Beijing ceremony on 3 September. Participation in the summit therefore did not itself constitute participation in the anniversary parade. (eng.sectsco.org)" }, { "heading": "Public presentation and documentary record", "text": "Official presentation joined wartime remembrance to declarations of peaceful development and military modernization. In his address on 3 September 2025, Xi Jinping commemorated Chinese wartime sacrifices, thanked foreign supporters of China’s resistance and called for international cooperation to prevent another war. He also instructed the armed forces to support national rejuvenation and develop into world-class forces. Xinhua’s principal account reproduced this combination: its headline emphasized peaceful development, while its description of the parade stressed military reform, new equipment and the armed forces’ transformation. These were the stated themes of the speech and official coverage, rather than independently established conclusions about Chinese policy. The ceremony was televised and livestreamed, extending its presentation beyond the audience in Tiananmen Square. (english.www.gov.cn)\n\nThe parade formed one component of a wider anniversary program, not an umbrella designation for all commemorative activities. At a State Council Information Office briefing on 3 July, Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism Lu Yingchuan outlined performances, exhibitions and literary and artistic works organized around remembrance, honoring the dead and cherishing peace. The announced historical exhibition at Beijing’s Museum of the War of Chinese People’s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression comprised eight sections, 1,525 photographs and 3,237 relics, combining documents, historical footage, artworks and reconstructed scenes. Broadcasting plans included new documentaries and dramas, alongside repeat screenings of wartime films. A separate cultural gala, Justice Prevails, took place at the Great Hall of the People on the evening of 3 September; it was distinct from the morning’s military ceremony. (english.www.gov.cn)\n\nThe principal official documentary sources preserve different aspects of the event. Xinhua’s Chinese-language live transcript records the opening announcements, Xi’s address, the inspection and successive formation descriptions in timestamped entries. It therefore supplies a textual sequence and the terminology used by the organizers. Its linked photographic galleries and video coverage provide complementary visual records. The timestamps identify entries in the live report and should not automatically be treated as independently measured timings of every action. Official photographs and captions document the square’s arrangement, participants, vehicles and aerial formations, while the speech transcript establishes what was publicly said rather than whether its political assertions were correct. (news.cn)\n\nContemporaneous independent reporting supplies a separate record of the spectacle and its interpretation. Associated Press coverage on 3 September described the ceremony, newly displayed weapons and international attendance, while also framing the event as a demonstration of China’s growing influence. Such reporting can be compared with official formation descriptions to distinguish visible features and witnessed events from organizers’ claims or analysts’ assessments. It does not turn a reported military designation or capability claim into independently verified technical information. (ap.org)\n\nThe equipment display also imposed evidentiary limits. Aviation Week & Space Technology distinguished aircraft observed during rehearsals from those actually presented, noting that one collaborative-combat-aircraft design seen in preparations did not join the parade. Its assessment also identified unresolved questions about production levels and operator training. Accordingly, imagery establishes that particular equipment or externally identifiable configurations were publicly displayed; it does not by itself establish fleet inventories, combat readiness or operational effectiveness. Those conclusions require evidence beyond ceremonial appearance, including production, deployment, training or testing records. (aviationweek.com)" } ], "links": [ "beijing", "china", "second-sino-japanese-war", "world-war-ii", "xi-jinping", "japan", "chinese-communist-party", "radar", "logistics", "telecommunications", "laser", "nuclear-weapon", "kuomintang", "united-nations", "russia", "north-korea", "tianjin", "photography", "journalism" ], "sources": [ { "title": "China holds massive V-Day parade, pledging peaceful development", "url": "https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202509/03/content_WS68b7d6c9c6d0868f4e8f54d9.html" }, { "title": "Japan, China, the United States and the Road to Pearl Harbor, 1937–41", "url": "https://history.state.gov//milestones/1937-1945/pearl-harbor" }, { "title": "Japan Surrenders", "url": "https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/japanese-surrender-document" }, { "title": "China ratifies anti-Japanese war victory day", "url": "https://np.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/News/201402/t20140228_1583712.htm" }, { "title": "Chinese and foreign leaders attend China’s V-Day celebrations", "url": "https://english.www.gov.cn/news/top_news/2015/09/03/content_281475181901984.htm" }, { "title": "阅兵时长约70分钟，45个方（梯）队！最新准备情况", "url": "https://app.xinhuanet.com/news/article.html?articleId=6fb90e9c99d4ffaac0a2f54acb9007ac" }, { "title": "Xi to review troop formations lining up in Beijing during V-Day parade", "url": "https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202508/20/content_WS68a53fc9c6d0868f4e8f4f6e.html" }, { "title": "各项准备基本完成 新型装备将集中亮相——国新办发布会公布九三阅兵活动具体安排", "url": "https://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/20250821/22ff1af4cc514579ab277c13cc17e444/c.html" }, { "title": "文字实录_新华网直播_新华网", "url": "https://www.xinhuanet.com/zt/kzsl80zn/jsybzbgz/wzsl.html" }, { "title": "纪念中国人民抗日战争暨世界反法西斯战争胜利80周年大会在京隆重举行习近平发表重要讲话并检阅受阅部队", "url": "https://www.cac.gov.cn/2025-09/03/c_1758619169765784.htm" }, { "title": "文字实录_新华网直播_新华网", "url": "https://www.news.cn/politics/jnkzsl80dhzb/wzsl.html" }, { "title": "Xi hails 'unstoppable' national rejuvenation at V-Day commemorations", "url": "https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202509/03/content_WS68b7b2b8c6d0868f4e8f54d3.html" }, { "title": "Xi demands PLA provide strategic support for national rejuvenation", "url": "https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202509/03/content_WS68b7b154c6d0868f4e8f54d1.html" }, { "title": "(V-Day) Armed Police Force formation marches through Tian'anmen Square", "url": "https://english.news.cn/20250903/60d8cda08a14429abb2f62a095a5f4d9/c.html" }, { "title": "阅兵现场丨地面突击方队：“陆战之王”尽显攻坚突破强大战力", "url": "https://www.news.cn/politics/20250903/d6dc74ca8e1844ff968d002f3d1ae5a2/c.html" }, { "title": "阅兵现场丨空降突击方队：快速反应纵深打击的“空降利刃”", "url": "https://www.news.cn/politics/20250903/2ab0474bd28648f69941c44f2c6765fa/c.html" }, { "title": "阅兵现场丨反舰导弹方队：打击海上之敌的“尖兵利器”", "url": "https://www.news.cn/politics/20250903/407e8fafa7934d92aaf4b0f8880cb030/c.html" }, { "title": "舰载防空武器方队：未来海战场的“御敌铠甲”", "url": "https://www.news.cn/politics/20250903/d77590c20b3e40df8341d176ae88edab/c.html" }, { "title": "对空抗击方队：构筑起防空御天的坚固屏障", "url": 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attends military parade in BJ", "url": "https://www.news.gov.hk/eng/2025/09/20250903/20250903_143305_386.html" }, { "title": "(V-Day) Early-warning, command aircraft echelons fly over Tian'anmen Square in parade", "url": "https://english.news.cn/20250903/7fc6d256474a41d59c8690bd075b20d1/c.html" }, { "title": "阅兵现场丨运输机梯队：展现我军规模化战略投送能力全面提升", "url": "https://www.news.cn/politics/20250903/a91ed55984ab4973a32ad721d8552e46/c.html" }, { "title": "PLA on Parade", "url": "https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/CASI/documents/Research/CASI%20Articles/2025-09-15%20PLA%20on%20Parade.pdf?ver=6Yv_E8i0ourZ52dn8WQ7Bg%3D%3D" }, { "title": "Beginning of Work of Secretary General in Tianjin at Events of SCO Summit", "url": "https://eng.sectsco.org/20250830/1956220.html" }, { "title": "25th Council of Heads of SCO Member States and the SCO plus in Tianjin", "url": "https://eng.sectsco.org/20250901/1963431.html" }, { "title": "China to hold extensive cultural events marking 80th anniversary of victory against Japanese aggression, fascism", "url": "https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202507/03/content_WS686687ebc6d0868f4e8f3d05.html" }, { "title": "Grand cultural gala staged in Beijing to mark 80th anniversary of victory against Japanese aggression, fascism", "url": "https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202509/04/content_WS68b8e63dc6d0868f4e8f5527.html" }, { "title": "China displays its military strength in a parade on the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII", "url": "https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2025/china-displays-its-military-strength-in-a-parade-on-the-80th-anniversary-of-the-end-of-wwii/" }, { "title": "Aviation Week & Space Technology Student Edition - September 15–28, 2025", "url": "https://aviationweek.com/sites/default/files/2025-09/AWST_2025_S9-15.pdf" } ], "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" }