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Xi Jinping’s Attendance at Russia’s Victory Day Parade:
China’s Regional Strategy and Its Implications for ROK-China Relations
Lee Dong Gyu
232025.06.23
Background of Xi Jinping’s Attendance at Russia’s Victory Day Parade
On May 9, 2025, Russia held a large-scale ceremony in Moscow to mark the 80th anniversary of Victory Day. Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the event for the first time in ten years, his last appearance having been in 2015. A day earlier, on May 8, Xi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for a bilateral summit, where he pledged to further deepen cooperation between the two countries, showing off the strength of the growing China-Russia partnership.
China is seizing the opportunity presented by the Trump administration’s renewed America First policy, which has deepened tensions between the United States and its allies and partners. By highlighting these fractures, Beijing seeks to erode confidence in U.S. global leadership and expand its own international influence. While Xi’s participation in the event and his public show of solidarity with Moscow could have potentially limited China’s diplomatic flexibility, his decisions appear to have been strategically calculated based on several considerations.
This article is an English Summary of Asan Issue Brief (2025-16).
(‘시진핑의 러시아 전승절 참석: 중국의 지역전략과 한중관계에 대한 함의’)
Lee Dong Gyu
Research Fellow, Director
Dr. LEE Dong-gyu is a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. Dr. Lee received his B.A. and M.A. from the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and Ph.D. in politics from Tsinghua University in China. His research focuses on Chinese politics and foreign policy, South Korea-China relations, and Northeast Asia security. His recent publications include “The Belt and Road Initiative after COVID-19: Implications of Expanding Health and Digital Silkroads,” “Is Political Reform of the Chinese Communist Party Going Back: Changes and Durability of Intra-democracy in the Xi Jinping Era,” “Xi Jingping Thought from the Perspective of the Chinese Communist Party’s Ideological Strategy,” “Development Factors and Specificity of Korea-China Relations in the Cold War Era: 1972-1992,” “A Study on the Sinicization of Marxism after Reform and Opening Up,” etc.
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