Overview

• China says 26 foreign leaders will attend the Tiananmen Square parade, including Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian, Belarus’s Alexander Lukashenko, Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto, Slovakia’s Robert Fico and South Korea’s National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik.
• North Korean state media expanded its announcement to the domestic audience on Friday, with the Rodong Sinmun and state radio reporting Kim Jong-un’s planned trip at Xi Jinping’s invitation.
• The People’s Liberation Army plans a large, choreographed display featuring fighter jets, missile defense systems and hypersonic weapons as Xi reviews troops.
• Most major Western leaders are not attending, highlighting China’s use of the event as an alternative diplomatic stage alongside Russia and North Korea.
• Kim’s visit marks his first trip to China in six years and a rare multilateral appearance, drawing scrutiny of deepening China–Russia–North Korea ties and the regional security implications.