Beijing’s upcoming military parade at Tiananmen Square is not a commemoration of World War II. It is a propaganda pageant, staged to rewrite history, flaunt weapons, and bind authoritarian leaders in common cause.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) says the event honors the “80th anniversary of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the broader World Anti-fascist War.” But the stagecraft tells the truth: tanks in formation, missiles rolling past Tiananmen — the same square where students were massacred in 1989 for demanding freedom. And the guest list? Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, and Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian. It is less a remembrance of fascism defeated than a summit of despots celebrating their survival.
Four Aims of Beijing’s Spectacle
- A Show of Force Masquerading as Peace
Democracies mark WWII with wreaths, silence, and remembrance. Xi marks it with ballistic missiles. This is not mourning the dead — it is a message of intimidation. Where the West builds museums, Beijing rolls out weapons. - Forging an Authoritarian Axis
Just as the Axis Powers once gathered under the illusion of unity, Beijing now courts a new coalition of strongmen. Putin — waging a bloody war of aggression in Ukraine — sits as guest of honor. Kim Jong-un, whose regime starves its own citizens while testing missiles, joins the stage. This is not about antifascism; it is about authoritarian solidarity against democracy. - Historical Theft: The CCP’s Fake WWII Victory
The truth is simple: it was the Republic of China (ROC) under Chiang Kai-shek that bore the brunt of the war against Japan, losing millions of soldiers and civilians in the process. The CCP’s forces were small, often hiding in the shadows, and only emerged as victors after Japan’s defeat.
Today, Xi Jinping claims the CCP “led China to victory” — a theft of history as brazen as Stalin erasing Trotsky from photographs. Beijing inflates its role by extending the “eight-year resistance” to “14 years,” a trick designed to give the CCP a starring role in a war it barely fought. And the ROC (the actual government of wartime China) still exists in Taiwan, the living refutation of the CCP’s claim of inheritance. - A Distraction from Failure
The CCP wants the world to watch parades, not numbers. But the IMF numbers are damning: debt at record highs, growth slowing, foreign investment fleeing. Meanwhile, purges of PLA generals reveal power struggles and paranoia at the top. Xi’s answer? A Soviet-style parade to mask weakness with pomp, much as Brezhnev once did when the USSR was rotting from within.
The Bitter Irony
The contradictions are grotesque:
- China claims to promote peace, while putting nuclear-capable missiles on display.
- Xi honors Putin (today’s aggressor in Europe) while barring leaders of democratic nations.
- Nations once condemned as fascist aggressors (Germany, Italy, Japan) are now thriving democracies. Former Allies (China and Russia) have decayed into authoritarian states that trample human rights and threaten global stability.
A Parade of Insecurity
Make no mistake: this parade is not about the past. It is about Xi Jinping’s present fears. Just as Hitler staged torchlit rallies to project power while Germany teetered, Xi now turns Tiananmen into his theater of legitimacy.
Beijing is rewriting history to justify its claim over Taiwan, to inflate the CCP’s legacy, and to mask the failures hollowing its rule. The truth is unavoidable: the CCP did not win WWII, it hijacked its aftermath.
The parade should be understood not as a tribute to the past, but as a strategy for the present — one rooted in propaganda, insecurity, and authoritarian ambition.
