All eyes have been on China this week as the second biggest global economy flexed its muscles.
Dozens of world leaders, including from the global south, authoritarian pariah states and the EU, attended China’s largest ever military parade on Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, which China calls the war of resistance against Japanese aggression.
China’s president, Xi Jinping, was flanked by the Russian and North Korean leaders, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, in what has widely been called a show of defiance to the west. It is the first time all three leaders – who were chatting and shaking hands as they walked the red carpet in Tiananmen Square – have been seen together.
The others in attendance included Belarus president Aleksandr Lukashenko, Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian, and Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.
It was a highly choreographed display of power from the emerging (emerged?) global superpower, with a formidable guest list that was designed to send a message to the rest of the world.
But what was that message? How does Xi hope to reshape geopolitics, and what will a more confident China mean for global human rights? I spoke to Amy Hawkins, the Guardian’s senior China correspondent, to find out. That’s after the headlines.
