Hong Kong, September 23 (ANI): Images of Chairman Xi Jinping, dressed in a grey Mao suit, officiating at China's spectacular military parade through Beijing on 3 September, were carefully orchestrated.

The idea was to present to China and to the world a powerful leader in control of his nation's destiny. Constructing his political legacy, Xi is currently being unapologetically assertive overseas and reassuringly confident at home.

As China celebrated the 80th anniversary of Japan's defeat at the end of World War II, Xi was flanked by highly favoured comrades Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, who many in the world despise and deride. Central and Southeast Asian nations were well represented too, although leaders from the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and, obviously, Japan were notably absent.

As the shiny new weapons of the People's Liberation Army rolled past the rostrum in Tiananmen Square, Xi and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were asserting their influence all around the world. One place Xi is aggressively doing that is the South China Sea.

Sophie Wushuang Yi, a postdoctoral teaching fellow at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, wrote in an article for Australia's Lowy Institute: 'For domestic consumption, the parade served as a powerful reassurance during uncertain times, particularly around the economy. The helicopters flying above the display of military might carried banners proclaiming 'Justice shall prevail', 'Peace shall prevail' and 'People shall prevail' as a promise that China's rise remains inexorable despite Western containment efforts.'

She continued, 'Crucially, the parade allowed Xi to demonstrate that China isn't isolated despite American pressure. The presence of 26 foreign leaders, down from the 30 who attended in 2015, still projected an image of diplomatic vitality. For Chinese citizens bombarded with news about trade restrictions and technology bans, seeing their president flanked by fellow world leaders was intended to offer comfort that China maintains meaningful international partnerships.'

This was the fourth parade over which Xi has presided, yet it came at a time of economic difficulty for China, as deflation reigns and youth unemployment surges.

Yet Xi and the CCP were aiming the parade at international audiences too in a carefully calculated marketing campaign. Yi pointed out in her Lowy Institute report, 'This visual representation of what some analysts term the 'axis of upheaval' sent an unmistakable signal that China has options beyond Western engagement. The timing, coming as US President Donald Trump pursues aggressive trade policies toward China, transformed the parade into a geopolitical statement about alternative world orders.'

Lyle Morris, Senior Fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, commented: 'Symbolically, the West often ridicules ostentatious displays of military hardware as wasteful and unnecessary, but for China under Xi Jinping, it holds particular purpose and value.' For example, it shows how China's military has arrived on the global stage and how far it has come in its modernisation journey.

'On diplomacy, the absence of Western leaders was notable and underscored the parade's role as a stage for nations sceptical of or defiant toward Western influence,' Morris continued. Only one NATO head of state attended: Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico. The only other European leader there was Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. 'In other words, this was not a showing of nations who fought in World War II standing in solidarity with China. Instead, it was a litmus test for who China's real 'friends' are, with strong representation from Central Asia, Africa and Southeast Asia,' Morris pointed out.

There was an obvious military dimension too. Yi said, 'The military hardware on display carried specific messages for different international audiences. The DF-61 intercontinental ballistic missiles spoke directly to American defence planners, while the Yingji-series hypersonic anti-ship missiles - tested against mock US aircraft carriers - delivered pointed warnings about China's anti-access capabilities in the Indo-Pacific. The revelation of undersea drones and cyber warfare units signalled China's commitment to asymmetric capabilities that could neutralise traditional American advantages.'

Interestingly, the parade occurred just a short time after China hosted the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin. That was another opportunity for Xi to rub shoulders with international leaders and to present himself as a global statesman in stage-managed political theatre.

The SCO emerged in the 1990s to resolve border disputes between Central Asian states. It then went through a counterterrorism phase, but its main task now seems to be a forum to project a non-Western worldview thanks to members like China, India, Iran, Pakistan and Russia.

One of China's 'advertising' targets is the Global South, as Xi attempts to gain influence in Africa, Asia and Latin America and to present China as a viable alternative to the West. China was therefore careful to paint its parade as 'anti-fascist' rather than 'anti-Western', but the overall point was to present China as a powerful force against Western hegemony.

Indeed, China is not particularly fussy about who it backs and befriends, as illustrated by the leaders of Myanmar and Zimbabwe attending the 3 September parade. Xi is perfectly happy to welcome those pariahs marginalised by the current international order.

Dr Yu Jie, Senior Research Fellow on China, Asia-Pacific Program at Chatham House, concurred. 'The symbolism is hard to miss. The events send a clear message - China is casting itself as the standard-bearer of a multipolar world led by the Global South, set against the Western narrative of a US-led liberal international order.'

Xi has already promulgated vague but glowing initiatives regarding global development, security and civilisation, and his latest creation is the Global Governance Initiative. Xi's aim is not hidden either: to diminish the strength and influence of the USA and the West in global leadership and to replace them with China at the top of the totem pole.

Of course, President Donald Trump's isolationist 'America first' policy and his mistreatment of allies around the globe have been a godsend to China. As the world watches with bated breath as to who the impulsive Trump will turn on next, China has been making hay and indulging in a diplomatic charm offensive to reset or strengthen ties with a whole host of nations around the world.

Yi remarked, 'Xi's declaration that 'the Chinese nation is never intimidated by any bullies' gave voice to divergent messaging strategies. Domestically, this rhetoric taps into the narrative of China suffering centuries of humiliation, rallying nationalist sentiment around the CCP's leadership. Internationally, it signals China's willingness to confront what it perceives as American aggression, even at the risk of further deteriorating relations. Rather than seeking to reassure international audiences about China's peaceful rise - the dominant narrative of the previous decade - Beijing now appears comfortable projecting strength even at the cost of heightened tensions.'

China no longer feels the need to accommodate the West or the USA. Xi is strong and secure enough to rock the boat of international order, and he is willing to suffer backwash as a result.

This is illustrated in the South China Sea, as Xi seeks to ruthlessly punish the Philippines for what it perceives as Manila's U-turn. As long as Rodrigo Duterte was in power and acquiesced to Chinese demands, Beijing controlled itself. However, as soon as President Bongbong Marcos stood up for Philippine sovereign rights, the gloves came off and China has been acting violently.

Its latest gambit to seize undisputed control of Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea was to declare a 'Huangyan Island National Nature Reserve' in order to solidify territorial claims over this feature well within the Philippine exclusive economic zone (EEZ). China's announcement was a cynical ploy to exert sovereignty over a feature it seized from the Philippines in 2012. Manila responded angrily to China's declaration, rejecting it in a statement issued by National Security Adviser Eduardo M. Ano on 11 September. It noted Beijing's claim was 'patently illegal' since it violates treaties like the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which China is a signatory.

The statement noted: 'The move by the PRC is less about protecting the environment and more about justifying its control over a maritime feature that is part of the territory of the Philippines, and its waters lie within the EEZ of the Philippines. It is a clear pretext towards eventual occupation.' It is ironic that China said it wished to protect the environment when large-scale dredging and island construction in the South China Sea over many years has led to widespread destruction, even as its fishing fleet plunders the world's oceans.

Manila filed a formal diplomatic protest, and numerous Western countries lent their verbal support for the Philippine stance. China's modus operandi is transparent - it would use this 'nature reserve' as a pretext to stop everyone from accessing the shoal before beginning construction to 'protect' the feature, inevitably leading to a military base and infrastructure just 220km from Luzon.

Yet China's dual messaging to audiences at home and overseas carries inherent risks. Yi acknowledged, 'The domestic promise of inevitable triumph may prove difficult to sustain if China's economic challenges deepen. Internationally, the explicit alignment with Russia and North Korea may accelerate the very containment China seeks to avoid, pushing fence-sitting nations towards American partnerships.' Indeed, Chinese actions are pushing some to lump together in order to stand up to Beijing.

On the same day as the parade, Trump 'accused' China, Russia and North Korea of 'conspiring against the United States', in perhaps a tongue-in-cheek manner. Xi and Trump later talked by phone on 19 September, and both emphasised how the USA and China fought side by side in World War II. While this was somewhat at odds with the signalling Xi gave in his parade, there is logic behind it. China must balance its alignments with the maintenance of working relations with the USA. By giving the US some acknowledgement of its role in defeating Japan, Xi feeds Trump's ego and keeps him onside. Of course, a little flattery seems to work wonders when it comes to winning concessions from Trump, and Xi identified this weakness in Trump's character a long time ago.

Yi assessed: 'As Beijing continues navigating between these sometimes contradictory imperatives, the effectiveness of this messaging strategy will largely determine whether China's rise continues to challenge or ultimately upends the existing international order. For policymakers observing from capitals worldwide, understanding these divergent messages - from parade-ground assertions of new partnerships to phone call reminders of old ones - isn't merely academic; it is essential for anticipating China's future trajectory.'

Despite the parade's glitz on 3 September, many saw through the propaganda. Desmond Shum, a Hong Kong businessman and now a critic of the CCP, remarked, 'The spectacle, wrapped in red flags and martial pride, tells us less about history than it does about the CCP's enduring obsession with rewriting it.'

Interestingly, the official Japanese surrender was 2 September, but China followed Russia's lead and celebrates the anniversary on the 3rd. Of course, it was the Kuomintang nationalists, and not the CCP, that decisively fought the Japanese.

Nationalists suffered 3.2 million casualties in eight years of fighting, even as Mao and the CCP devoted their energies to developing their power base rather than fighting the invaders.

Shum asserted, 'Today's parade erases these truths. The CCP presents itself as the 'mainstay' of the Anti-Japanese War, crowning itself with laurels earned by others.

There's a Chinese phrase - 'starting with falsehood and ending with shamelessness' - that captures the process perfectly.' He added, 'This is not remembrance; it's a pageant of fabrication, designed to reinforce party legitimacy while airbrushing out the sacrifices of the Nationalists and the decisive role of the Americans.'

The Shanghai-born businessman continued, 'History shapes national identity. By inflating its role in World War II, the CCP is not just stealing credit; it's laying the foundation for future claims to moral authority at home and abroad ... Behind the choreography lies a hollow truth: the party that claims to have led China's resistance to Japan was, in reality, the one that sat out the war, waiting to seize power after others had paid the price of victory.' (ANI)