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14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 SEPTEMBER 2025 NEWS A new axis of power? What Beijing's show Karl Azzopardi speaks to former ambassador to the EU Political and Security Committee Clint Azzopardi Flores and international relations academic Valentina Cassar to understand what China's military parade means for the world, Europe and Malta CHINA'S military parade this week, staged in Beijing with Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un standing alongside Xi Jinping, was more than a show of firepower. The image of the three leaders shoul- der to shoulder, echoing the optics of Cold War summits and Soviet-era displays of strength, carried a deliber- ate message of unity against the West. At a moment when Russia's war in Ukraine drags on, Europe continues to debate its own security posture, and the United States (US) grapples with Trump-era policy, the spectacle forces a reckoning with what clos- er ties between Beijing, Moscow and Pyongyang might mean for global sta- bility — and for Europe's place in an increasingly fractured world. To understand the implications, MaltaToday spoke to two experts: Clint Azzopardi Flores, Malta's for- mer ambassador to the EU Political and Security Committee and an econ- omist, and Valentina Cassar, an aca- demic within the department of Inter- national Relations at the University of Malta. Is China a superpower? The event on 3 September, organ- ised to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second Sino-Japa- nese War and World War II, saw Xi Jinping host more than 20 foreign heads of state. A display of Chinese diplomatic and military power, the show included nu- clear warheads, intercontinental bal- listic missiles, unmanned drones and even robotic wolves. Clint Azzopardi Flores said there are two perspectives from which to view the parade. The first is Xi Jinping's in- vitation to controversial world leaders like Putin, Kim Jong Un and even In- dian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "What is most striking is Putin, who as an aggressor and invader, just last week had the Americans literally roll out the red carpet for him," he said. "We are seeing how China is getting closer to Russia, which we wouldn't have thought possible before." The second aspect to analyse, ac- cording to Azzopardi Flores, is the military hardware on show. For years China has been an importer of weap- onry, but over the last decade or so has shifted its strategy to position itself among the biggest exporters of weapons. This represents a massive shift in trends and poses a challenge to Euro- pean and American manufacturers. "In his address Xi Jinping said the world faces 'peace or war.' This to me says that China will not be backing down. It was like an expo for weap- ons. They were showing other coun- tries what they have," he said. The sentiment was shared by Valentina Cassar, who said the parade was a gesture of power and status. "We have seen China steadily grow- ing into a superpower over the past 10 to 15 years, and it's not yet on par with the United States, but it's getting there," she said. Flores said he believes the US still holds an advantage over China on the ground, crediting its bottom-up mil- itary approach, which makes Amer- ican forces more nimble and agile compared to China's top-down struc- ture. Trump's making? A firebrand president who courted controversy either through social me- dia posts or sweeping tariffs, Donald Trump continues to dominate news "What is most striking is Putin, who as an aggressor and invader, just last week had the Americans literally roll out the red carpet for him" - Clint Azzopardi Flores The Dongfeng-61 missile, which is capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads in its nosecone