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By Micah McCartney
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China flexed its growing military might on Wednesday in a parade that featured a range of new capabilities, including drones and nuclear-capable missiles that Beijing said could reach anywhere on Earth.
Why It Matters
The parade was held to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan's formal surrender and end of World War II in the Pacific.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping, who presided over the event, used the occasion to showcase how far the People's Liberation Army had advanced toward his goal of achieving a military to rival America's by mid-century.
China's military buildup has the U.S. and its Asia-Pacific allies on edge over the potential for conflict, as China continues to press its claim to disputed territories in the South and East China seas and to the Beijing-claimed island democracy of Taiwan.
Newsweek has contacted the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Pentagon for comment via email.
What To Know
Among the weapons systems making their public debut were four from the YJ series of anti-ship missiles—the YJ-15, YJ-19, YJ-17 and YJ-20.
The latter three have "hypersonic characteristics"—namely the ability to travel at more than five times the speed of sound—Wang Yunfei, a former naval officer and military expert, told Chinese state media outlet the Global Times.
China has invested heavily in hypersonic missiles in recent years while the United States lagged. The hard-to-target weapons are considered a key element of the People's Liberation Army's anti-access/area denial strategy, designed to keep enemy forces at bay in a wartime scenario.
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Parade-goers also saw the Hongdu GJ-11 Sharp Sword, a tailless stealth drone that military analysts have described as likely to accompany fighter jets as a "loyal wingman" on missions.
"The GJ-11, among other systems, may provide the ability to gather information on enemy units, suppress their operation by guiding fire from other platforms, or carry weapons and execute a strike independently," said Georgios Salapasidis, the head of platforms and onboard sensors at the international military intelligence firm Janes, per a 2024 South China Morning Post report.
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Also on display was China's fourth-generation "Type 100" battle tank.
The vehicle is equipped with advanced radar and an active protection system that can track incoming shells and fire counter-rockets to intercept them, the state-run China Daily reported. In a first for a Chinese-made tank, the Type 100 also boasts an unmanned turret.
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China also showed off the Dongfeng-5C intercontinental ballistic missile, described in state media as a "strategic nuclear missile [that] can strike any target around the world."
The missile was carried on a large military transport vehicle, alongside land-, sea- and air-based nuclear-capable missiles that form China's expanding "nuclear triad" of strategic capabilities.
China's nuclear arsenal has especially alarmed Washington and its allies. The number of warheads is estimated to have reached 600 this year—more than double the 2019 total—according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
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Other systems included China's new 60-foot unmanned underwater vehicles and what state media described as the LY-1 laser weapon.
Xi was joined at the event by more than 25 foreign leaders, mainly from authoritarian states. Guests of honor included Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, marking the first time the three leaders appeared together.
In a speech, Xi marked the conclusion of what he called the "Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression."
"Under the banner of the anti-Japanese national united front advocated by the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people, with unyielding spirit, fought strong enemies [...] achieving the first complete victory in modern times in resisting foreign invasion," he said, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry transcript.
Analysts have challenged Xi's framing of the Communist Party's role in the war, which by some estimates claimed as many as 20 million Chinese lives.
"Xi should remember it was Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist Republic of China [ROC] government that fought imperial Japan in World War II," said Sean King, an Asia scholar and senior vice president at New York-based consultancy Park Strategies, in an interview with Newsweek.
The ROC government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the Chinese Civil War to Mao Zedong's communists, where it remains based today.
Update 9/4/25, 10:08 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from King and additional information.
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