China Stages Massive Military Parade as Global Leaders Watch

China staged a large, highly choreographed military parade in Beijing on Wednesday that displayed advanced weapons systems and mobilized tens of thousands of uniformed personnel as roughly two dozen foreign leaders watched from the stands.

The parade featured laser weapons, nuclear ballistic missiles, giant underwater drones, armored vehicles, tanks and massed infantry units. Some 26 visiting heads of state and government, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, joined President Xi Jinping in observing the event, which drew large numbers of spectators to the capital.

The display followed immediately after Mr. Xi convened the 25th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Tianjin two days earlier. That meeting brought together a mix of leaders — from long-standing partners of China to India’s Narendra Modi and officials from countries often described as U.S. allies — underscoring Beijing’s expanding diplomatic reach in Eurasia.

Analysts and officials have pointed to the concerted timing of the summit and the parade as a signal of Beijing’s growing military capabilities and its ambition to project influence. Organizers presented the event as a demonstration of national strength and unity, with choreography and equipment rollouts intended to highlight technological advances in China’s armed forces.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, founded a quarter-century ago as a regional grouping focused on security and economic cooperation, has grown into the world’s largest regional bloc and collectively accounts for about 30 percent of global gross domestic product. Member states maintain varying relationships with major powers and often resist fixed geopolitical alignments, but one recurring theme among them is expressed dissatisfaction with the post-World War II, U.S.-led international order.

Diplomatic guests at the parade reflected those complex alignments. Leaders who have longstanding ties to Beijing attended alongside representatives of countries that maintain competing relationships with the United States, illustrating the SCO’s role as a convening forum for a wide range of regional interests.

The parade did not announce new policy measures, and participating delegations offered no joint communiqués tied directly to the military display. Observers will watch whether the equipment and systems seen in Beijing are integrated more visibly into China’s force posture or exported to partner countries, and whether the spectacle affects regional security perceptions and diplomatic calculations.

For now, the event served as a domestic and international signal that Beijing intends to highlight both its military modernization and its diplomatic partnerships, combining public display with formal multilateral engagement in a compressed timeline.