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The People’s Republic of China’s 2025 Victory Day parade was a flawless display of advanced military hardware, evolving technological concepts and solid strategic goals. Unfortunately, that should worry Western nations around the world like the United States, NATO and Australia.
The 2025 Victory Day parade, held in Beijing on a smoggy 3 September day, marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Sino-Japanese War in Beijing. The event is presided over by China’s president, Xi Jinping, and welcomes other international dignitaries from across the globe.
More than 26 international heads of state attended the victory day parade, including those from Cambodia, Vietnam, Lao, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Nepal, Maldives, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran, the Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Cuba and Myanmar, among others.
Australian representatives reportedly included former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews and former NSW premier Bob Carr.
International standouts included Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un, who flanked PRC president Xi Jinping during the parade in a clear sign of solidarity.
The partnership is clearly rubbing off on President Xi as he accelerates down the government management path to dictatorship. Xi currently maintains an iron grip of control over the Chinese Communist Party and has been president of the PRC since 2013. He began his third term in 2023 despite historic (now-abolished) restrictions that a president could not service more than two consecutive terms.
“History cautions us that humanity rises and falls together. Only when all countries and nations treat each other as equals, coexisting and support each other, can we uphold common security, eradicate the root cause of war and prevent the reoccurrence of historical tragedies,” the PRC leader said, after thanking Chinese veterans, visiting international leaders and PRC citizens.
“Comrades and friends, the Chinese nation is the great nation that is never intimidated by any bullies and always values independence and forges ahead.
“In the past when faced with critical struggles between good and evil, light and darkness, progress and reaction, the Chinese people rallied together to defy the enemy.
“They fought for the survival of the country, for the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and for justice of the whole humanity.
“Today, humanity again, has to choose between peace and war, dialogue and confrontation, win-win cooperation and zero-sum game.
“The Chinese people firmly stand on the right side of history and the progress of human civilisation.
“We will remain committed to the path of peaceful development and join hands with all peoples around the world and building a community with a shared future for humanity.
“The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has been and will always be, the heroic armed forces that the party and the people can fully trust and rely on. All service members should faithfully perform their sacred duties, speed up the building of a world class military and firmly safeguard China’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.
“All service members should provide strategic support for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and make greater contributions to the peace and development of the world.
“History carries the lecture of the past and inspires the future. On a new journey in a new era, the Chinese people of all ethnic groups, under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China should follow Marxism, Leninism, Mao Zedong thought, Deng Xiaoping, the theory of three represents and the scientific outlook and development and fully implement the thoughts on socialism with Chinese characteristics for the new era.
“We should stay firmly on the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and carry forward the great spirit of the war of resistance.
“We should press ahead with enterprise and resolve and advance the unity for the cause of building China into a great country on all fronts and realising great national rejuvenation through Chinese modernisation.
“The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is irresistible, the noble cause of peace and development of humanity will prevail.”
The 71-year-old is clearly ageing into the sunset years of a firmly entrenched ruler and I would speculate that he is acutely aware of his critical hold on power, but also his own timeline of mortality to achieve his strategic aims for the future.
In much the same way as Russia’s 72-year-old President Vladimir Putin, it’s unclear what efforts have been made towards an inevitable transition of ruling power back to the CCP leadership committee or an individual aligned with Xi’s future vision.
US President Donald Trump publicly criticised the trilateral pact between North Korea, China and Russia on display at the Victory Day parade.
“The big question to be answered is whether or not President Xi of China will mention the massive amount of support and ‘blood’ that the United States of America gave to China in order to help it to secure its freedom from a very unfriendly foreign invader,” he said.
“Many Americans died in China’s quest for victory and glory. I hope that they are rightfully honoured and remembered for their bravery and sacrifice. May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration. Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against the United States of America.”
The day of celebration was also a flawless celebration of advanced military hardware, copied or innovated domestically, for the People’s Liberation Army.
From the outset, the PRC led with an initial fly-by from the US Black Hawk-copied Harbin Z-20 medium-lift utility helicopters flanked by Changhe Z-10 attack helicopters.
Fixed wing aircraft would make a more substantial appearance later in the day to close out the parade with fly-bys including J-35A and J-35 stealth fighters, J-20A fighter jets (single and twin seat), J-15DT electronic warfare aircraft, YY-20 aerial refuelling aircraft, Y-20A and Y-20B military transport aircraft, KJ-500A and KJ-600 (Navy carrier) airborne early warning aircraft as well as PLA strategic bombers such as the H-6J long-range bomber Navy variant.
Missiles were a key focus during the parade, as the PLA displayed its first air-launched nuclear missile (the JL-1) alongside smaller JL-3 submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles to complete the nuclear triad.
PLA Rocket Force was unveiled with new DF-26D intermediate range ballistic missiles, as well as DF-17 medium-range ballistic missiles, CJ-1000 long-range hypersonic cruise missiles and YJ-21 hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missiles alongside YJ-17, YJ-19 scramjet powered anti-ship cruise missile and YJ-15 ramjet powered anti-ship missiles.
Continuing the theme, the PLA also unveiled an upgraded variant of the DF-5C intercontinental ballistic missile. The massive, silo-launched system was carried on three separate trucks for the payload nose cone, body and propulsion rocket.
It was also reported that the PLA debuted a cyber, space and information force for the first time during the parade.
A number of diverse anti-air and air defence systems were spotted alongside Type 99B main battle tanks and surprisingly, several domestic versions of the HIMARS rocket artillery, the PHL-16 multiple rocket launcher.
Emerging technologies seen during the parade included several cargo transport, drone launch and direct-assault uncrewed ground vehicles. One of which, a tracked ZRY222, appeared to be armed with a heavy machine gun and two separate shoulder-mounted rocket or guided missile systems.
Other uncrewed systems included a coastal vessel, torpedo-style drones and several uncrewed aerial fighter prototypes carried aboard trucks, such as the GJ-11 unmanned combat aerial vehicle.
Other technology which stood out included several different types of large cargo truck and armoured cars mounted with large, directed energy weapons, possibly for anti-drone or missile defence.
Final thoughts
The length and breadth of the PLA arsenal on show during the 2025 Victory Day parade was truly impressive and should rightly send a shiver down the spine of rival military forces for the US, NATO and, potentially, Australia.
It’s clear from the parade that China is rapidly moving from a traditional copycat style defence procurement process to increasingly lead their own innovations in defence technology. There are some new and evolving ideas here in the fields of directed energy lasers, missiles, missile defence, drones, uncrewed ground and aerial vehicles.
Although it’s too early to tell if the PLA has made advancements in standard issue body armour and military accessories for the rank and file Chinese infantry soldier. During the parade, it was noted that most infantry were equipped with standard heavy duty combat helmets and goggles (likely for parade purposes).
In firearms development, it was obvious there has been an apparent complete transition from the PLA’s traditional QBZ-95 bullpup rifles to a more modern, traditional AR-15 style configuration 5.56mm QBZ-191 rifles. The new rifles appeared to be fitted with standard medium-to-long range optics, muzzle breaks and, in some cases, bayonets.
While we saw a lot of the new equipment and vehicles, there were a few no-shows that were sorely missed such as traditional field gun artillery, activated drone swarms and, crucially, China’s elusive “generation six” stealth tri-engine aircraft.
