The leaders of China , Russia and North Korea have just paraded together in Beijing for the first time in history, celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Chinese victory over the Japanese.

With them, but a little further back, were other leaders, not insignificant in terms of geopolitical power: the Prime Minister of (nuclear) Pakistan Shahbaz Sharif, the President of (threatened nuclear and anti-Israel) Iran Masoud Pesekian, the President of (Turkophile) Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the Belarusian President (and Putin's satellite) Alexander Lukashenko, the Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto (at a time when Indonesia is being shaken by many-deadly anti-government protests), etc. Some Europeans were also present: the (Russophile) Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (at a time when Serbia is being shaken by anti-government protests, which, however, have, among other things, a Chinese dimension, since the companies that had renovated the railway facilities that collapsed in Novi Sad in November 2024, fatally injuring 16 people, were Chinese).

The Europeans were quick to separate their position, emphasizing that they are not represented by Fico. Donald Trump also rushed to enter the picture of the developments, this time not as a participant but as a complainer, claiming that Messrs. Xi, Putin and Kim are conspiring against the USA.

And yet, in passing, it is recalled that Trump himself had embraced not only Putin but also Kim Jong Un, with whom he exchanged love letters during his first presidential term…

At the same time, back in the US, concerns were expressed regarding China’s alleged historically revisionist intentions, which appear to want to downplay the role played by the Americans in the defeat of the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). China seeks to erase the role of the US […] It downplays American aid and emphasizes Moscow’s role, the Washington Post writes characteristically.

Demonstrations of power with an eye on the West

What unfolded in China this week was indeed in many ways unprecedented. For the record, the last time a North Korean leader attended a military parade in Beijing was 66 years ago: Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Un's grandfather, in 1959, as Al Jazeera reminds us. China is demonstrating its military power and with it its anti-Western friends, TIME magazine writes characteristically.

Beyond the unprecedented presence of Mr. Xi, Putin and Kim in the same frame, it is worth noting that the military parade that took place in Beijing was the largest ever held there; while just a few days earlier, Chinese President Xi Jinping had hosted the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Tianjin (northern China), welcoming leaders such as the president of (NATO) Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the prime minister of India Narendra Modi.

The Modi-Xi meeting in particular is worth noting as it was the first to take place on Chinese soil in seven years.

Modi's presence at a Summit alongside the leaders of China and Russia could not, however, fail to feed those who criticize the foreign policy of the new Trump presidency. Critics of the American president complain that the (ed.: 50%) tariffs announced by Trump against India have forced New Delhi to seek rapprochement with China, the Indian Hindustan Times writes characteristically.

Conflicting messages from Trump

However, based on what was in effect (or was considered to be in effect) until recently, the Americans were supposed to approach the Indians as a bulwark against Chinese expansionism, against Beijing but also against (Sino-friendly) Pakistan, which would be seen as less important to the US after the summer of 2021 and the final withdrawal of the Americans from Afghanistan .

Within such a framework of Indo-American cooperation, certain ambitious plans had also emerged, such as the India – Middle East – Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) , which would operate in competition with the modern Chinese Silk Roads (see Belt and Road).

However, suddenly, Donald Trump found himself pressuring the Indians on the grounds that they were buying Russian oil, banning Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te from landing in New York (in August), and reaching out to Pakistan by welcoming (last June) the chief of the Pakistani armed forces, General Asim Munir, to the White House.

Donald Trump returned to the White House last January, ushering in a new era of American rapprochement with Russia that was to culminate at the Alaska summit last August.

Many would argue in recent months, seeing the 47th US president hugging Putin, that he is now approaching Moscow against Beijing, adopting a strategy that is the reverse ( reverse Kissinger ) of the one that Nixon and Kissinger had followed in the 1970s, when they had approached Mao's China against the USSR...

Just three weeks after walking the red carpet in Alaska to the applause of Trump himself, Russian President Vladimir Putin found himself in Beijing this week posing next to the leaders of China and North Korea, thus reaffirming his strong and unwavering ties with Beijing, which other countries have also been approaching recently, concluding a series of agreements with the Chinese side: the Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Erdogan's Turkey