Reuters: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
BEIJING, Sept 2 – China’s President Xi Jinping convened his Russian and North Korean counterparts in Beijing for the first time on Tuesday, a show of solidarity with countries shunned by the West over their role in Europe’s worst war in 80 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Xi hosted Vladimir Putin for talks at the Great Hall of the People and then at his personal residence, calling him his “old friend”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few hours later, Kim Jong Un’s armoured train<\/a> was spotted by a Reuters witness arriving in the Chinese capital. North Korean state media confirmed Kim’s arrival, showing his daughter Kim Ju Ae accompanying him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ju Ae, whom South Korean intelligence consider her father’s most likely successor, is making her international debut after years of being seen next to Kim at major domestic events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Xi, Putin and Kim are set to take centre stage at a massive military parade<\/a> on Wednesday, where the Chinese president will flaunt his vision for a new global order as U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies strain Western alliances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond the pomp, analysts are watching whether the trio may signal closer defence relations following a pact signed by Russia and North Korea in June 2024, and a similar alliance between Beijing and Pyongyang, an outcome that may alter the military calculus in the Asia-Pacific region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It would also be a blow for Trump, who has talked up his close relations with all three leaders and touted his peacemaking credentials as Russia’s three-and-a-half-year war<\/a> with Ukraine has raged on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a thinly veiled swipe at this rival across the Pacific Ocean on Monday, Xi told a summit of more than 20 leaders of non-Western countries: “We must continue to take a clear stand against hegemonism and power politics.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Xi also held talks<\/a> on Monday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, whose country has been targeted by Trump<\/a> over its purchases of Russian oil seen as helping finance Putin’s war effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the summit “performative” and accused China and India, the biggest buyers of Russian crude, of being “bad actors” by fuelling Russia’s war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n