China, Russia and North Korea signal pact in WWII anniversary summit

China’s President Xi Jinping met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Beijing in a historic event marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

It was the first-ever public appearance of the three leaders together, signaling a new rapprochement between uneasy neighbors. But just as the World War II alliance was short-lived, history suggests this alliance could terminate quickly.

Held against the backdrop of a massive Victory Day military parade commemorating Japan’s defeat in World War II, the gathering was a “wartime” signal of solidarity among allies, said the New York Times.

Xi greeted Putin as an “old friend,” while Putin reciprocated calling the Chinese communist party secretary “dear friend,” reported the Associated Press.

“We were always together then, we remain together now,” Putin said of the short wartime alliance between China and Russia in World War II.

Russia only entered the war after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The war ended a week later while 1.6 million Russians invaded Manchuria.

Kim’s arrival from North Korea by way of armored train added drama to an event that showed how much the world has changed over the last decade.   

The North Korean dictator’s visit, likely the most significant multilateral engagement of his leadership yet, positioned North Korea firmly within an emerging alliance, dubbed by some as the “Axis of Upheaval.”  

Analysts interpreted the move as tacit endorsement of Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions. 

“Until a few years ago, China and Russia were important partners in imposing international sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear and missile tests… (they) are now potential military partners of [North Korea] during a crisis on the Korean peninsula,” said Youngjun Kim, an analyst at the U.S.-based National Bureau of Asian Research, according to Reuters.  

At the summit, Xi, Putin, and Kim signaled a wartime‑style pact.  

Russia and North Korea previously forged a defense agreement in mid‑2024 so Russia could gain access to North Korean troops needed desperately for the Ukraine campaign.  

Participation in the parade elevates North Korea’s diplomatic profile and legitimizes its nuclear program – at a time when Pyongyang is increasingly isolated internationally. 

China under Xi appears to be recalibrating global ambitions in the wake of U.S. preoccupation with ending the fighting in Europe between Ukraine and Russia.  

Beyond the military spectacle, the Victory Day parade could be yet another bid to recast Beijing as a leader of the post-terror order, challenging U.S. commercial and military dominance.  

As a first order of business, China has created a fleet to challenge U.S. Naval superiority in the eastern hemisphere, in part to secure the delivery of food and energy supplies behind the bamboo curtain. 

That’s one reason why energy emerged as another pillar of the alliance.  

Gazprom and Chinese state energy firms signed a 30‑year gas pipeline deal and expanded energy cooperation, further pushing Russia into Beijing’s strategic orbit. 

Reuters reports the two countries have agreed to build a pipeline to China through Mongolia from the Russian Arctic gas fields capable of delivering as much as 50 billion cubic meters of gas per year. 

But similar deals in Europe have failed to secure Russia any material benefit or the security Putin says he wants. 

China’s Xi used the anniversary of the end of the Japanese war as the occasion to lambaste Trump’s America First policies.  

“Eighty years later, while the historical trends of peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit remain unchanged, the Cold War mentality, hegemonism and protectionism continue to haunt the world,” he said in a speech the day before the parade.  

The broader summit was attended by around two dozen non‑Western leaders, including India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who’s been involved in a trade dispute with Trump.  

Modi’s attendance reinforces the sense of a shaky anti‑Western coalition that’s more circumstantial than it is strategic for some. 

“It is a shame to see Modi getting in bed with Xi Jinping and Putin,” said Peter Navarro, a Trump trade advisor. “I’m not sure what he’s thinking. We hope he comes around to seeing that he needs to be with us and not Russia.”  

India and China have been engaged in a decades-long skirmish over border regions between the two countries. 

In 2022, a clash involving 300 troops saw hand-to-hand fighting between Chinese and Indian army units with more than 70 casualties. 

China and Russia, with the sixth-largest common border in the world, have had border clashes for centuries, the last coming in 1969. 

While China and Russia enjoyed a brief period of detente between 1950 and the early 1960s, their relationship has been fractious since then.  

The gathering is a vivid reminder that global power alliances may be short-lived, especially among opportunist states like China and Russia.