China’s Victory day military parade: why are Putin and Kim Jong-un there, and what is the ‘axis of upheaval’?

The gathering in Beijing will include the leaders of Russia and North Korea, along with the Iranian president, a grouping dubbed the axis of upheaval

On Wednesday, China is holding a military parade in the capital, Beijing, to mark 80 years since the end of the second world war. But it’s not just about the past, the parade says a lot about the forces reshaping the world today, and in the future.

At the parade, Chinese leader Xi Jinping will be flanked by the leaders of some of the world’s most heavily sanctioned nations – Russia, North Korea, Iran and Myanmar – and a host of other leaders of the global south but notably almost no western leaders.

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