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Hayley Wong

The People’s Liberation Army will send an honour guard to the Victory Day parades in Minsk and Moscow, where Chinese leader Xi Jinping is expected to appear alongside his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at Red Square later this week.
China’s defence ministry on Monday said it would send an honour guard to join military parades in the Russian and Belarusian capitals to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany on Friday.
Beijing sent honour guards to Moscow for a parade to mark Victory Day in 2015, but this will be the first time for a Chinese honour guard to take part in a similar event in Minsk.
Analysts said the gesture, along with China’s recent defence diplomacy, was probably aimed at showing support for the post-World War II international system that Beijing considered to be under threat.
Videos on Chinese social media have shown rehearsals of the Chinese soldiers in Minsk and Moscow in the past week.
As part of preparations for the parade in Moscow, Chinese soldiers practised performing “Guerrillas’ Song” in Red Square on Sunday, according to Global Times. The patriotic song describes the hardship of Chinese soldiers during the second Sino-Japanese war, commonly referred to as the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in China.
State news agency Xinhua said this year was important for China and Russia, as well as “those who love peace worldwide”, as it also marked the 80th anniversary of the end of Japan’s invasion of China.
Xinhua said on Monday that the two countries would “defend the history that was written with blood and lives, and oppose any attempt or behaviour to deny, distort, or falsify the history of the second world war”.
Beijing announced earlier that Xi would visit Russia from Wednesday to Saturday and engage in “strategic communications” with Putin.
The trip comes as US President Donald Trump’s tariff war has put pressure on the global trade system and weakened the transatlantic partnership, which Beijing and Moscow have long viewed as dominant forces that should be counterbalanced in the international system.


Zhao Long, deputy director of the Institute for International Strategic and Security Studies at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, said a major reason for the high-profile celebration this year was that “some countries have tried to distort the post-war history and order” through unilateral sanctions and tariff wars.
He said the celebration also reflected the growing political trust between Beijing and Minsk, as the two countries had strengthened cooperation in areas including trade and security in recent years.
China sent an honour guard to participate in Belarus’ annual Independence Day parade in 2018, but not for the country’s Victory Day parade in 2015.
China also sent a large honour guard formation to Ho Chi Minh City for the first time last week to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, which marked the end of Vietnam’s civil war.
Zhao said China’s participation in military parades abroad was probably aimed at showing its support for a “correct view on post-war history and international fairness and justice”.
Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University in Beijing, said China’s participation in the events in Russia and Belarus also showed diplomatic support for the two countries.
He said that while Russia and Belarus were the “victors of the second world war”, the West had consistently seen Russia as a “failure in the Cold War” while labelling Belarus as an “authoritarian regime” and linking it to what they saw as Russian nuclear threats.
He added that as China’s national power grew, Beijing was becoming more outspoken that China, Russia and Belarus were all important “contributing forces in Eurasian security”.


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Xi Jinping expected to attend events in Moscow in what analysts say is sign of support for post-WWII international order


Xi Jinping expected to attend events in Moscow in what analysts say is sign of support for post-WWII international order.


China to send honour guard to Russia and Belarus for Victory Day anniversary

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Xi Jinping expected to attend events in Moscow in what analysts say is sign of support for post-WWII international order

Xi Jinping expected to attend events in Moscow in what analysts say is sign of support for post-WWII international order