Tianjin to Tiananmen: Xi Jinping Confronts Trump’s World Order

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Yu Jie of Chatham House argues that Beijing’s Tianjin SCO Summit and Victory Day parade were carefully staged political theatre—designed to project China as leader of the Global South and challenger to US-led order.

By TRH Global Affairs Desk

NEW DELHI, September 2, 2025 — By Yu Jie’s assessment in Chatham House, Beijing has choreographed a diplomatic “high season” with dual spectacles: the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Tianjin and a Victory Day parade in Tiananmen Square marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

Both events, she argues, are political theatre blending diplomacy, military strength, and historical narrative. The message is unambiguous—China seeks to cast itself as standard-bearer of a multipolar world, positioning the Global South against the US-led liberal international order.

The SCO Summit underlined Beijing’s regional focus. Over 30 heads of state and organizations attended, including India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while close US allies like Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and the Philippines stayed away. Modi’s presence, Yu notes, showed a thaw in China–India ties, with both sides stressing their relationship is “not subject to the influence of any third party”—a clear signal to Washington.

Xi Jinping also unveiled his Global Governance Initiative, the latest in a string of frameworks projecting China’s ambition to reshape multilateralism, in contrast to US retrenchment under Trump.

The Victory Parade carried a different but complementary message. It was not just a show of military might, Yu observes, but a reassertion of China’s role as both a great power and a victim-turned-victor in World War II. By emphasizing China’s sacrifices while showcasing a modernized People’s Liberation Army, Beijing reinforced the Communist Party’s legitimacy at home and its deterrence posture abroad.

For Yu, the optics of absent Western leaders contrasted sharply with the presence of Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. But Beijing never sought Western validation. Instead, the dual events sought a world where the West’s leadership role is diminished, and China steps forward as architect of an alternative order.

Eight decades after WWII, Yu concludes, China no longer views itself as a participant in history but as the designer of a new world system—crafted on its own terms.

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