BEIJING: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is among 26 world leaders in China to witness on Wednesday the country’s biggest-ever military parade, a show of strength staged by President Xi Jinping to underline Beijing’s growing power on the global stage.

China kicked off its largest-ever military parade on Wednesday, a show of its growing firepower and geopolitical clout as President Xi Jinping seeks to cast Beijing as the custodian of a post-U.S. international order.

Flanked by Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Xi was shown on television strolling up a red carpet to take his seat for the lavish event at Tiananmen Square to mark 80 years since Japan’s defeat at the end of World War Two.

Wearing a suit in the style of those worn by former leader Mao Zedong, Xi earlier greeted around two dozen largely non-western leaders in attendance, including Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto, who made a surprise appearance despite widespread protests at home.

He was shown saying “Nice to meet you” and “Welcome to China” in English.

The highly choreographed “Victory Day” spectacle comes as US President Donald Trump’s “America First” stance and trade wars have strained Washington’s long-standing alliances.

Asked whether he sees the parade as a challenge to the United States on Tuesday, Trump said he didn’t and reiterated his “very good relationship” with Xi. 

“China needs us much more than we need them,” he added.

More than 50,000 spectators at Tiananmen Square packed into stands in Tiananmen Square awaiting the 70-minute showcase of aerial displays, marching troops as well as cutting-edge military equipment such as hypersonic missiles, unmanned drones and outfitted tanks.

Major roads and schools have been closed in Beijing for the parade, the culmination of weeks of painstaking security preparations and midnight rehearsals.

Xi will review the troops lined up in formation before delivering a keynote speech atop the Gate of Heavenly Peace in Beijing, where a portrait of China’s late Chairman Mao Zedong overlooks Tiananmen Square.

Vision for new global order

Xi has described World War Two as a turning point in the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”, in which it overcame Japanese invasion and humiliation to emerge as a rising global power.

He is expected to emphasise China and Soviet Russia’s role in defeating fascism and defending the postwar international order in his address.

Earlier this week, Xi outlined his vision of a new global order at a regional security summit, urging unity against “hegemonism and power politics” – widely seen as a swipe at the United States and Trump’s tariffs on both allies and rivals.

Putin has already used the occasion to sign deeper energy deals with China, while the gathering offers Kim an opportunity to gain tacit backing for his sanctioned nuclear programme.

Kim, attending his first major multilateral event, is the first North Korean leader to join a Chinese military parade in 66 years.

His daughter Ju Ae, viewed by South Korean intelligence as his likely successor, is making her first international appearance after years of being seen alongside him at domestic events.

Authorities have left nothing to chance for the high-profile event.

Local governments across China have mobilised tens of thousands of volunteers and Communist Party members to maintain security and prevent unrest ahead of the parade, according to online recruitment notices.

“President Xi will use this opportunity to demonstrate that the military is firmly behind him,” said Wen-Ti Sung, a fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub.

PARIS: France has said that Europe is ready to stand by Ukraine with long-term security guarantees once the war ends — but it now wants the United States to step up and do its part. 

President Emmanuel Macron’s office said on Tuesday that Kyiv’s European allies are prepared to contribute to security guarantees for Ukraine after any peace deal with Russia.

Ahead of a meeting between Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and allies in Paris on Thursday, an Elysee Palace official said, “We are ready,” adding that Europeans now hope to secure “the support of the Americans to guarantee Ukraine’s security.”

A so-called Coalition of the Willing, made up of around 30 countries, intends to support Ukraine’s military and could potentially deploy some of its own soldiers once a ceasefire is reached. The aim of any deployment would be to deter future Russian aggression.

According to a French diplomatic source, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and his US counterpart Marco Rubio, in a telephone call on Tuesday, “stressed the good existing cooperation in the Coalition of the Willing” ahead of Thursday’s meeting.

A US State Department spokesman said the two ministers “agreed to continue cooperation in diplomatic efforts to bring the Russia-Ukraine war to an end through a negotiated settlement with measures in place to secure a lasting peace.”

Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will jointly chair Thursday’s meeting.

An Elysee official said: “We now have enough contributions to be able to say to the Americans that we are ready to take our responsibilities as long as they take on theirs — meaning giving European partners a ‘backstop’.”

That backstop could involve several areas, including intelligence, logistical support, and communications. But US President Donald Trump has ruled out any American troops on the ground.

Trump has so far failed in his attempt to organise a summit between President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky, after hosting the Russian leader in Alaska last month.

On Tuesday, Trump said he was “very disappointed” in Putin for not moving towards a peace deal on Ukraine.

The United States will send a representative to Thursday’s meeting, Macron’s office confirmed, without giving details.

A Bolivian court has sentenced two elderly Spanish Jesuit priests to one year each in prison for concealing decades of sexual abuse carried out by their colleague, marking the country’s first successful criminal prosecution of high-ranking members of the Catholic order implicated in cover-ups, Reuters reported. 

The priests, Marcos Recolons, 81, and Ramon Alaix, 83, were convicted in Cochabamba on Tuesday. 

Prosecutors argued they led the Jesuit order in Bolivia during the years the abuse occurred and knowingly ignored allegations against fellow priest Alfonso Pedrajas, who died in 2009. 

Their silence allowed Pedrajas to maintain contact with children, many of them Indigenous students from poor families studying on scholarships at a prestigious boarding school.

The scandal surfaced in 2023 when a diary belonging to Pedrajas was published. In it, he chillingly admitted to abusing at least 85 minors between 1972 and 2000. 

The revelations triggered international outrage and renewed debate across Latin America over the Catholic Church’s responsibility in addressing child sex abuse scandals.

The court not only sentenced the priests to prison but also ordered them to pay court costs, compensate victims, and undergo psychological treatment. 

The judge further announced that prosecutors will pursue new cases against other priests named by survivors during the trial.

Pedro Lima, spokesperson for a survivors’ group, described the ruling as “historic”, noting that while the one-year sentence was not severe, it nonetheless set an important precedent. 

“We want this to be a precedent so that no boy or girl in Bolivia suffers sexual abuse again,” he said.