North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russia's Vladimir Putin arrived Wednesday morning ahead of a massive parade in Beijing to cap a week of diplomatic grandstanding by President Xi Jinping and his allies against the West.
In unprecedented scenes, Xi shook both their hands and chatted with the pair as they walked down a red carpet toward Tiananmen Square, with Putin to Xi's right and Kim to his left.
China will showcase its military prowess with troops marching in formation, flyovers, and displays of high-tech fighting gear at the showpiece extravaganza to mark 80 years since the end of World War II.
Millions of Chinese people were killed during a prolonged war with imperial Japan in the 1930s and '40s, which became part of a global conflict following Tokyo's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
All eyes will be on how the trio of Xi, Putin, and Kim — who rarely leaves secretive North Korea — interact with each other in a highly choreographed photo opportunity seen as a coup for China on the world stage.
Starting at 9 a.m. (0100 GMT), Wednesday's 70-minute event is the climax of a whirlwind week for Xi, who on Sunday and Monday hosted a slew of Eurasian leaders for a summit in the northern port city of Tianjin aimed at putting China front and center of regional relations.
The club of 10 countries, named the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, touts itself as a non-Western style of collaboration in the region and seeks to be an alternative to traditional alliances.
During the summit, Xi slammed "bullying behavior" from certain countries — a veiled reference to the United States — while Putin defended Russia's Ukraine offensive, blaming the West for triggering the conflict.
Many of the guests from the Tianjin gathering, including Putin, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and several other leaders, will join Xi for the parade in Beijing.
However, no major Western leaders will attend the event.
Hardware on Display
Security around Beijing has tightened in recent days and weeks, with road closures, military personnel stationed on bridges and street corners, and miles upon miles of white barriers lining the capital's wide boulevards.
Art installations with flowers, doves, and an emblem showing the Great Wall of China with "1945-2025" have cropped up around the city; and Chinese flags are flying in residential neighborhoods.
Officials have been tight-lipped over the list of hardware to be displayed at the parade, but military enthusiasts have already spotted significant new systems, including what is rumored to be a gigantic laser weapon.
Defense experts have been analyzing social media photos and footage from recent rehearsals, which have shown anti-ship missiles, cutting-edge underwater drones, and anti-missile systems.
The military has said all the equipment presented is domestically produced and "in active duty."
Satellite images taken in the days leading up to the parade showed hundreds of vehicles, aircraft, and other military equipment taking formation at a base in northwest Beijing.
Kim Rolls In
China has touted the parade as a show of unity with other countries, and Kim's attendance will be the first time he is seen with Xi and Putin at the same event. It is only his second reported trip abroad in six years.
AFP journalists captured the moment his olive-green train approached Beijing Railway Station on Tuesday afternoon, with small North Korean flags flying over one coach.
He was accompanied by his daughter Kim Ju Ae, pictured standing behind him while he was welcomed by Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the station, images released by North Korean state news agency KCNA showed.
Kim enjoyed a brief bout of high-profile international diplomacy from around 2018, meeting President Donald Trump and former South Korean President Moon Jae-in multiple times.
But he withdrew from the global scene after the collapse of a summit with Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2019.
Kim stayed in North Korea throughout the COVID-19 pandemic but met Putin in Russia's far east in 2023.
Lam Peng Er, principal research fellow from the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore, said Kim's visit "demonstrates to the North Koreans and the world that he has powerful Russian and Chinese friends who treat him with respect."
"China also shows that it has convening power and political influence to bring Putin and Kim Jong Un together," he told AFP.
Asked about the meeting between Xi, Putin, and Kim, Trump told a radio show: "I'm not concerned at all, no."