Trump sees China ‘show of force’ as plot vs U.S.

BEIJING (AFP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping, flanked by his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday watch a massive military parade in Beijing, with United States President Donald Trump seeing the trio as plotting against his country.

In unprecedented scenes, Xi shook Kim and Putin’s hands and chatted with the pair as they walked down a red carpet by Tiananmen Square, with the Russian president to Xi’s right and North Korea’s leader to his left.

“Give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

China’s show of force was for marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, and a message to the rest of the world by Xi warning it was still “faced with a choice of peace or war.”

China’s enormous new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) DF-5C, with a range of 20,000 kilometers, counted prominently among the tons of hardware on display.

The Global Times, a nationalist tabloid, said that the DF-5C is capable of striking anywhere on Earth.

China’s huge collection of military vehicles and heavy weapons rolled past the dignitaries, while images of thousands of servicemen and women in immaculate uniforms marching in tight ranks and soldiers jumping in and out of vehicles were shown in a slick state media broadcast.

Also paraded were two new, extra-large torpedo-shaped unmanned underwater vehicles — the AJX002 and the HSU100 — carried on top of long trucks.

Beijing residents went out into the streets to catch a glimpse of a spectacular flypast involving scores of warplanes and helicopters, some making an “80” formation.

Generating major buzz ahead of the parade was a powerful weapon touted by one Chinese military-linked X account as the “most powerful laser air defense system in the world.”

Several LY-1 — large, white contraptions with deep blue screens — were seen carried on top of long military vehicles Wednesday.

During a speech ahead of the parade, Xi hailed his country as “unstoppable.”

China’s state media broadcast only offered rare snatches of the three together and foreign journalists were kept at a distance and told not to film or photograph Xi, Kim and Putin.

The event was the climax of a whirlwind week for Xi, who hosted a slew of Eurasian leaders for a summit aimed at putting China front and center of regional relations.

The club of 10 countries, named the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, touts itself as a non-Western style of collaboration in the region and seeks to be an alternative to traditional alliances.