Beijing’s Tiananmen Square was the venue for a military parade marking 80 years since the end of the Second World War (1939-45) on Wednesday (September 3).Alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un were in attendance.US President Donald Trump shared a post on Truth Social, saying, “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.”Officially, China calls World War 2 the “Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War”, and several banners featured the wordy slogan.What were the highlights of the event, and why has the Chinese government increasingly sought to commemorate the day in recent years with pageantry? We explain.Xi’s speech, a peek into Chinese forcesXi said in his speech, “Eighty years ago, after 14 years of bloody struggle, the Chinese people completely defeated the Japanese militarist aggressors and declared the final victory…” He called it a “historic turning point for the Chinese nation — marking the shift from a period of deep national crisis toward great national rejuvenation.”He added that the world was today facing “a choice between peace and war”, and that China as a nation can never be “intimidated by any bullies”, in a thinly veiled reference to the United States. “Justice, light, and progress will always triumph over evil, darkness, and reaction,” Xi said, as quoted by the BBC.Story continues below this adThe parade showcased advanced Chinese weaponry, helping drive home messages of the strength of the Chinese nation.According to a BBC report, it showed that “China has been able to quickly produce a diverse range of weapons”, particularly in its drones and missiles. One article from the Communist Party mouthpiece Global Times said the DF-5C liquid-fueled intercontinental strategic nuclear missile was displayed, with a reported range of 20,000 km that was “capable of covering the entire globe”.Also Read | The case against ex-Brazil president Bolsonaro, the powers of its Supreme CourtLeaders of 26 nations were present, with Kim being the first North Korean leader at a Chinese military parade in 66 years. Western observers dubbed the gathering as one where authoritarian leaders congregated, shortly following the scenes of bonhomie at the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, also held in China. Unlike most foreign leaders at the SCO, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not stay in the country for the parade.For China, however, the messaging goes beyond the more recent geopolitical shifts — tariff wars, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Iran’s role in Middle East politics. It is linked to how China has attempted to project its position in the world.Story continues below this adThe perception of the war has shifted over time within China. In the early 20th century, China was engaged in a civil war following the end of the last monarchy, the Qing dynasty, in 1911. Both the Communists, led by Mao Zedong, and the Nationalists of the Kuomintang, led by Chiang Kai-shek, competed for power.However, Japan’s inroads into China as part of the Axis powers (alongside Germany and Italy) necessitated unity. Events like the Nanjing massacre of 1937, which marked one of the worst episodes of the war, further contributed to the anti-Japanese sentiment.Experts note that the Kuomintang was more involved in the war efforts since it was also in power at the time, but after prevailing against Japan, it lost the domestic conflict to the Communists in 1949. Its leaders then fled to Taiwan and established their government on the island.For many decades after, the Communists did not make notable mentions of the war. In an article for The Diplomat, researcher and academic Lewis Eves wrote, “By the late 1970s, however, the regime’s legitimacy of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) was faltering. Chairman Mao, whose cult of personality had been a cornerstone of the CCP’s regime, died in 1976.” The economic reforms introduced two years later also threatened the core ideology of communism, and by extension, the party’s survival.Story continues below this adIn this context, the party embraced a nationalistic view of the war, invoking history as a unifying factor. It encouraged school education, films and TV shows on the subject.This has been emboldened by a revisionist view in Japan as well, particularly among the younger population, occasionally justifying its past military aggression. Notably, Taiwan has resisted agreeing with the Chinese view and, amid its own tensions with the country, restricted its officials from attending commemorations and parades.Further, framing the war as a fight against “fascism”, an ultranationalist far-right ideology, allows Beijing to criticise both its key strategic competitors — the West and Japan. Its official media commentary has said that in the Cold War era, “Washington chose to support Japan as a strategic counterweight in Asia. In doing so, the remnants of Japanese fascism were not fully eradicated.”The narrative also ties into the idea of the “Century of Humiliation”, covering the period from the mid-19th century to 1949, capped by the Communists establishing the modern-day People’s Republic of China. It includes the period of China’s unequal trade treaties with European powers to the Japanese invasions. Under Xi, it has often been used to build up nationalistic sentiments and frame criticisms of China (particularly by the West) as an attempt to subjugate it, once again.Story continues below this adFinally, it relates to how China wants the world to perceive its rise. British historian Rana Mitter wrote in his book China’s Good War (2020) that the country is “keen for its growing presence in the world to be seen as one of normative and moral leadership, rather than leadership defined solely by economic and military weight.” This is what political scientist Joseph Nye called “soft power”, that is, winning goodwill through ideas and culture, not just coercion.“China has recently constructed such a story of its own modern genealogy, which presents the country not only as powerful, but as just and moral… Chinese thinkers now argue that the country was “present at the creation,” to use former US secretary of state Dean Acheson’s phrase referring to his leading role in the formation of the postwar world,” he wrote. A position as a direct stakeholder of sorts would, therefore, strengthen its claims to shape its future.