Beijing Military Parade
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Top of the Agenda
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended a military parade in China today, marking their first joint public appearance with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The leaders of all three countries have not stepped out together since the Cold War. Officially, the parade marked the anniversary of the victory over Japan in World War II, but it also demonstrated Xi’s international partnerships and ongoing military buildup.
The details.
- In a speech, Xi cast China’s rise as “unstoppable” and said it was on its way to having a “world-class military.”
- The parade showcased different types of supersonic and hypersonic missiles as well as underwater drones, some of which had never been seen in public before.
- U.S. President Donald Trump accused Putin and Kim of conspiring against the United States in a social media post. The Kremlin rejected that characterization.
- Putin met with Kim and thanked him for North Korean soldiers’ efforts fighting with Russia against Ukraine. Separately, the head of Russia’s Gazprom said yesterday that a long-stalled gas pipeline deal between Russia and China would move forward.
The context. The parade comes after Xi proclaimed ambitions to reform the global governance system to correct for alleged imbalances at a summit earlier in the week. Some heads of state who attended that summit—such as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi—did not stay for the military procession, suggesting they had different levels of public alignment with Beijing’s messaging. Only two Western leaders attended the parade, Slovakia’s Robert Fico and Serbia’s Aleksandar Vučić.
“The China-Russia relationship continues to deepen and widen, and occasional disagreements are dwarfed by the scale and momentum of their strategic cooperation. Theirs is a formidable partnership bordering on alliance, bound together by resistance to what they view as a U.S.-led, anachronistic international order, one that does not permit either country its rightful place despite their power, history, domestic legitimacy, civilizational triumphs, and vital regional interests.”
—CFR expert Robert D. Blackwill and the Center for a New American Security’s Richard Fontaine in a Council Special Report
Across the Globe
Chip export controls. Washington will start requiring Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC to get a license to ship U.S. chipmaking tools to China, following similar moves that affected Samsung and SK Hynix. Last week, the Commerce Department said it planned to issue licenses for the latter two firms to continue work at existing factories. The Trump administration has urged chipmakers to increase production in the United States.
U.S. strike near Venezuela. A U.S. military strike on a vessel alleged to be carrying members of gang Tren de Aragua off the coast of Venezuela killed eleven people, Trump said yesterday. Venezuela’s communications minister suggested, without evidence, that a video shared by Trump was created with artificial intelligence. Trump declared Tren de Aragua a terrorist organization earlier this year and cited that designation as a reason to deport alleged members. A U.S. appeals court decided yesterday the use of the Alien Enemies Act for those deportations was illegal.
Ruling on National Guard. A federal judge in California ruled yesterday that the Trump administration “willfully” broke the law by deploying National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June following protests over immigration raids. The administration has since sent troops into Washington, DC and threatened to deploy the Guard to other cities including Chicago; Trump’s team is expected to appeal the decision.
Space Command shift. The headquarters of Space Command will move to Huntsville, Alabama from its temporary home in Colorado, Trump said yesterday. Huntsville is already the site of the army’s Redstone Arsenal and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The city’s mayor said the move was expected to bring 1,400 jobs with it.
Russian drone barrage. Russia launched 502 drones and 24 missiles toward Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said today. Ukraine reported shooting down or suppressing 430 drones and 21 missiles, while its neighbor Poland increased the readiness of its air force in response to the barrage. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the ongoing attacks showed Russia’s “open disregard” for global efforts to end the war.
Request for Thai election. Thailand’s ruling Pheu Thai party said it would seek a snap election after the leader of the Bhumjaithai Party said he had enough votes to become premier. A succession battle in the country has unfolded since a court last week removed Pheu Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
Israeli reservists mobilize. Thousands of Israeli reservists started mobilizing for duty while Israel ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate south as plans move forward for an Israeli offensive there. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday the operation aims to defeat Hamas and ensure the release of hostages. An estimated twenty thousand people have evacuated the city in the past two weeks, the United Nations said, while almost a million—nearly half of Gaza’s population—are still there.
The deforestation-drought link. Deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest was linked to around 74 percent of the drop in rainfall in the area between 1985 and 2020, researchers wrote in a Nature Communications paper yesterday. The study focused on the region’s annual dry season. Deforestation is a known driver of drought, but the degree to which it affected Amazon rainfall still surprised the scientists.