September 3, 2025 • 5 mins
A global affairs expert says there was a clear difference in the guest list at China's military parade today, compared with previous years.
Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin joined Chinese President Xi Jinping for the World War Two commemorations.
Former Prime Ministers Sir John Key and Helen Clark were also there.
Geopolitical analyst Geoffrey Miller says previous parades had lots of western leaders.
He explained the global south was over-represented, with leaders from Africa, Asia and former soviet republics.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now laser weapons, nuclear ballistic missiles, giant underwater drones. They
are among the weapons that have been unveiled at China's
big military parade today.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Pull them off.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Sounds cool like. Fifty thousand guests attended Tianaman Square, including
twenty six world leaders, and we've seen China's Shujiping. Russia
is Vladimir Putin and North Koreas Kim Jong Un together
for the first time, and geopolitical analyst Jeffrey Miller.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Is with us. Now, how Jeffrey, good afternoon.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Are you impressed with all the weaponry?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Oh? It is a real showcase, isn't it these military
parades that you get out of the likes of Russia
or China? Now, you know, in terms of the symbolism,
in terms of the military hardware that's being put on
show here, it is quite something to watch. And it's
either an impressive show of military mit or terrifying, I guess,
(00:53):
depending on what side of the fence you sit on,
but it is certainly something worth watching. And those clips
will of course go around the globe on television screens,
and that was the aim of the plan really was
to show off what China has to offer. In terms
of its military strength.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Is there anything that the Americans will see there that
they didn't already know that the Chinese had.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
No. I don't very much that anyone is overly surprised
at what China has in the stockpile. There was a
new type of intercontinental ballistic missile. I had a look
at the coverage from the Australian newspaper and they're hyping
that up, saying it could reach Australia. Well years in theory,
lots of things can do lots of things all around
(01:35):
the world, and we've known that for decades. The nuclear
stock piles that both the United States and other great
powers have can destroy the world many times over. None
of that's new in a sense, but it is something
to see it all and being paraded in front of
all these guests who have come, particularly from the Global South,
and that's I guess what is particularly interesting about this
(01:57):
year's parade versus the one, say ten years ago, where
you actually had quite a few Western leaders and Western
representatives there. This time around, the guest list, in terms
of the heads of state and heads of government was
very much landed towards the Global South and leaders in
Asia Africa, Central Asia, former Soviet republics that were very
(02:19):
heavily represented.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Why did they not invite anybody from our government?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Well, I think this week has been all about the
Global South. For China, their assistant Foreign Minister when they
were announcing the events, both the summit of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization in Jianjin, which is a port city in
the north of China, and the events today, the Assistant
Foreign Ministers said, the Global South is reshaping the world landscape.
(02:45):
And I think that's really what the messaging has been
about this week. It's been about that unity of course
with Vladimir Putin, with Ninandramodi who was at that SEO summit,
and of course Kim Jong En from the Supreme Leader
from North Korea and all the other Global South leaders.
And some of these leaders are coming from countries that
New Zealand is on good terms with. If you think
(03:07):
of the President of Vietnam, for example, or the Prime
Minister of Malaysia there there today. So these are countries
and as Ian in Southeast Asia. Christopher Luxon has visited
both Malaysia and Vietnam are quite recently, so they're not
all countries that New Zealand would see is beyond the
pale in a sense. Some of them are quite good
(03:28):
friends of where the world is a complex place.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
What I want to know is leaving leaving for example,
Luxon and Albanesi and so on off. The guest list
is designed to send a message, isn't it, which is
in a China shaped world, you are not our friends.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I don't know whether it's as strong or as black
and white as that, but not Luxon. Well, would Christopher
Luxen be at the top of the list for an
event like this. I mean, you've only got so many
seats that you can have there, and so many you
can put there.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
On the minister he's a current prime minister, and then
you've got two former prime ministers there. Surely he would
eclipse them, wouldn't he.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Well, Look, I think Helen Clark and John Key probably
acquitted themselves quite well today and I'm sure they up
held New Zealand's representation at that an official level. They
were there representing New Zealand, if not the government. That
was being done by New Zealand's representatives at the embassy
in Beijing. But look, I think it's really important to
engage with China and if an invitation had been sent
(04:30):
to Christopher Luxe, and I think he should have accepted it.
But in the fact, in the end he wasn't. He
wasn't invited, So that question didn't really need to be
answered in a sense. But I think it's really important
to engage. We need that dialogue and diplomacy and Jijingping
today he made that contrast, he said peace or war,
dialogue or confrontation. There was all that military hardware and
(04:54):
then there are eighty thousand doves that were released into
the air, and he's putting out the choices there for
the world. And I think in the end, the world
would be a lot better if we had more peace
and less war. So I think you're in the end.
It's going to take everyone's efforts to achieve that, but
you're shining. Look if we don't have peace, look here's
the alternative and parading all of this military hardware past Tiananmen.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Square, Jeffrey, I really appreciate you expertise. Thank you, Jeffrey Miller,
Geopolitical Analyst. For more from Heather Duplessy, Allen Drive, listen
live to news Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
Now laser weapons, nuclear ballistic missiles, giant underwater drones. They
are among the weapons that have been unveiled at China's
big military parade today.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Pull them off.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Sounds cool like. Fifty thousand guests attended Tianaman Square, including
twenty six world leaders, and we've seen China's Shujiping. Russia
is Vladimir Putin and North Koreas Kim Jong Un together
for the first time, and geopolitical analyst Jeffrey Miller.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Is with us. Now, how Jeffrey, good afternoon.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Are you impressed with all the weaponry?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Oh? It is a real showcase, isn't it these military
parades that you get out of the likes of Russia
or China? Now, you know, in terms of the symbolism,
in terms of the military hardware that's being put on
show here, it is quite something to watch. And it's
either an impressive show of military mit or terrifying, I guess,
(00:53):
depending on what side of the fence you sit on,
but it is certainly something worth watching. And those clips
will of course go around the globe on television screens,
and that was the aim of the plan really was
to show off what China has to offer. In terms
of its military strength.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Is there anything that the Americans will see there that
they didn't already know that the Chinese had.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
No. I don't very much that anyone is overly surprised
at what China has in the stockpile. There was a
new type of intercontinental ballistic missile. I had a look
at the coverage from the Australian newspaper and they're hyping
that up, saying it could reach Australia. Well years in theory,
lots of things can do lots of things all around
(01:35):
the world, and we've known that for decades. The nuclear
stock piles that both the United States and other great
powers have can destroy the world many times over. None
of that's new in a sense, but it is something
to see it all and being paraded in front of
all these guests who have come, particularly from the Global South,
and that's I guess what is particularly interesting about this
(01:57):
year's parade versus the one, say ten years ago, where
you actually had quite a few Western leaders and Western
representatives there. This time around, the guest list, in terms
of the heads of state and heads of government was
very much landed towards the Global South and leaders in
Asia Africa, Central Asia, former Soviet republics that were very
(02:19):
heavily represented.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Why did they not invite anybody from our government?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Well, I think this week has been all about the
Global South. For China, their assistant Foreign Minister when they
were announcing the events, both the summit of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization in Jianjin, which is a port city in
the north of China, and the events today, the Assistant
Foreign Ministers said, the Global South is reshaping the world landscape.
(02:45):
And I think that's really what the messaging has been
about this week. It's been about that unity of course
with Vladimir Putin, with Ninandramodi who was at that SEO summit,
and of course Kim Jong En from the Supreme Leader
from North Korea and all the other Global South leaders.
And some of these leaders are coming from countries that
New Zealand is on good terms with. If you think
(03:07):
of the President of Vietnam, for example, or the Prime
Minister of Malaysia there there today. So these are countries
and as Ian in Southeast Asia. Christopher Luxon has visited
both Malaysia and Vietnam are quite recently, so they're not
all countries that New Zealand would see is beyond the
pale in a sense. Some of them are quite good
(03:28):
friends of where the world is a complex place.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
What I want to know is leaving leaving for example,
Luxon and Albanesi and so on off. The guest list
is designed to send a message, isn't it, which is
in a China shaped world, you are not our friends.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I don't know whether it's as strong or as black
and white as that, but not Luxon. Well, would Christopher
Luxen be at the top of the list for an
event like this. I mean, you've only got so many
seats that you can have there, and so many you
can put there.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
On the minister he's a current prime minister, and then
you've got two former prime ministers there. Surely he would
eclipse them, wouldn't he.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Well, Look, I think Helen Clark and John Key probably
acquitted themselves quite well today and I'm sure they up
held New Zealand's representation at that an official level. They
were there representing New Zealand, if not the government. That
was being done by New Zealand's representatives at the embassy
in Beijing. But look, I think it's really important to
engage with China and if an invitation had been sent
(04:30):
to Christopher Luxe, and I think he should have accepted it.
But in the fact, in the end he wasn't. He
wasn't invited, So that question didn't really need to be
answered in a sense. But I think it's really important
to engage. We need that dialogue and diplomacy and Jijingping
today he made that contrast, he said peace or war,
dialogue or confrontation. There was all that military hardware and
(04:54):
then there are eighty thousand doves that were released into
the air, and he's putting out the choices there for
the world. And I think in the end, the world
would be a lot better if we had more peace
and less war. So I think you're in the end.
It's going to take everyone's efforts to achieve that, but
you're shining. Look if we don't have peace, look here's
the alternative and parading all of this military hardware past Tiananmen.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Square, Jeffrey, I really appreciate you expertise. Thank you, Jeffrey Miller,
Geopolitical Analyst. For more from Heather Duplessy, Allen Drive, listen
live to news Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.