[Politics & Diplomacy] Historic shots from China's Victory Day military parade, what's significance of each shot?

And China's Victory Day was more than a military parade, experts say.

Rather, the event may have been strategically designed to serve President Xi's objectives.

For more, we turn to our defense correspondent Kim Bo-kyoung in the studio with us.

Bo-kyoung, welcome.

Dami, thank you for having me.

First, let's take a closer look at some scenes from the military parade.

The way Chinese President Xi Jinping positioned each leader or representative from the invited countries, what did it suggest?

Right, one of the main talking points of the parade was how so-called the three strongmen Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un all stood next to each other.

North Korean leader Kim was positioned to Xi's left, while Russian President Vladimir Putin was standing on the right.

Xi maintained this formation, standing side-by-side at the rostrum as well.

Kim standing directly to the left of President Xi represents China's intentional gesture of exceptional courtesy toward North Korea.

This is actually an unprecedented scene in North Korean history as well, as neither his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, nor his father, Kim Jong Il, ever stood directly beside a Chinese president at such a multilateral venue.

In fact, if we compare it with the 70th anniversary of Victory Day in 2015, North Korea sent Workers' Party Secretary Choe Ryong-hae , who was positioned at the far end of the rostrum.

One expert says this seating arrangement itself shows China's own message.

"The fact that Kim was positioned on the left shows China has offered great level of courtesy and it shows that China would be behind North Korea's back in various ongoing matters. This can be understood as diplomatic protocol created through seating arrangements where both sides had a previous mutual agreement."

It is quite interesting how the seating arrangements includes Xi's hidden message.

It seems all of this is part of Xi's plan to come up with a new international order.

Right, though our focus today is the Victory Day military parade, we need to note that the message Xi wanted to share was also at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that took place ahead of the Victory Day.

There he explicitly put the idea of creating a China-led growth model that goes against the Western ones.

Also during his speech on Victory Day, he said the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is unstoppable, and indirectly suggested that this is already happening by showcasing a wide range of weaponry.

One of the most interesting shots was how Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined the SCO and joined hands with Xi.

Such a scene between Modi and Xi standing together like old friends was hard to imagine as the two countries had been in a hostile military standoff since 2020, with China's troop incursions into the mountainous Himalayan border with India.

Yet, with Trump having slapped India with 50-percent import tariffs, this made Modi visit China for the first time in seven years to show intimacy with Xi.

Though Modi skipped the military parade, the same expert says the fact Modi visited China itself would be quite painful for the U.S. to see.

"Modi's tightrope diplomacy for national interests— needing Russian oil, having thorny issues with China but still meeting with Xi to discuss various forms of cooperation, and continuously sending messages opposing U.S.-led unilateralism— would be very uncomfortable for Trump."

I see. Lastly, could you give me more details on what kind of advanced weapons were on display during the parade?

Sure, China showed off new weaponry that could make Washington worry.

It debuted the new-type DF-5C liquid-fueled intercontinental strategic nuclear missile. One expert said in the Global Times that it has an estimated range of more than 20-thousand kilometers, being capable of reaching anywhere on the entire globe.

Also shown was the DF-26D, a medium-range ballistic missile nicknamed the "Guam Killer" which can directly strike the U.S. military's key hub on Guam.

Hypersonic DF-17 missiles, which are capable of neutralizing THAAD systems, and the DF-61, presumed to be a next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile were also included in the parade.

The YJ-21 , a hypersonic anti-ship missile, and the HQ-29 interceptor missile, referred to as the "Chinese version the Patriot" were also showcased.

Fighter jets, including the J-35A, a stealth fighter that made it debut as a counterpart to the U.S. Navy's F-35C showed the modernization of China's military.

Alright, these are all the questions I have for you today Bo-kyoung.

Thank you for today.

Thank you.