By Carlos Taylhardat | September 4, 2025
Xi stood with the sunroof open, four microphones thrust before him. He scanned row upon row of saluting soldiers, tanks, drones, jets, and hypersonic missiles with a gaze of steely resolve. And then, he roared:
Mandarin (Xi’s question):
“同志们，准备好了吗？”
Soldiers (in unison):
“听党指挥！能打胜仗！作风优良！正义必胜！”
English translation:
Xi (calling out): “Comrades, are you ready?”
Soldiers (in chorus): “Follow the Party’s commands! Fight to win battles! Maintain excellent conduct! Victory is certain!”
That electric echo of duty and orchestrated loyalty was a visceral declaration: this was not merely a parade. It was a deliberate message that China has arrived as a military superpower. With twenty heads of state in attendance, Xi’s stagecraft suggested China speaks for nearly half the world’s population. The question left hanging: what does this mean for the West? Is balance a blessing or a disaster waiting to happen?
Narrative 1 — Balance Through Multipolarity
For decades, the United States was the sole superpower after the Cold War. Many argued this dominance brought stability, but also arrogance. On Piers Morgan’s Uncensored podcast yesterday, retired U.S. General Mark Kimmitt remarked: “A tri-polar world, however uncomfortable, could create a deterrence so strong that no single state can act recklessly. China, Russia, and the United States now hold one another in check.”
Xi himself framed it as destiny: “The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is unstoppable.” His defiance was sharper still:
“The Chinese nation is never intimidated by any bullies.”
From this angle, a world with three nuclear giants might actually prevent unilateral wars. If Washington can no longer dominate, it may be forced into dialogue. Beijing and Moscow, in turn, may discover that cooperation and not coercion is the only way to keep the balance intact.
Narrative 2 — Collapse of Arms Control and Rising Risks
The danger is clear: the scaffolding that once restrained nuclear arsenals is collapsing. See the disarray of Arms Control’s collapse;
- NPT (1970): Still the cornerstone, yet the 2022 Review Conference ended without consensus on further disarmament.
- ABM Treaty: The U.S. withdrawal in 2002 opened the door to missile defense races, prompting both Moscow and Beijing to modernize.
- INF Treaty: Collapsed in 2019, removing bans on mid-range nuclear missiles.
- New START (2010): Due to expire in 2026; Russia suspended participation in 2023, freezing inspections and data exchange.
- CTBT (1996): Signed but never ratified by the U.S. or China; Russia revoked its ratification in 2023.
ArmsControl.org warns:
“Without verifiable limits, for the first time since the 1970s, we are heading into an era where all three major powers can build without constraint.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres was even starker: “Humanity is one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation.”
The bottom line: multipolar deterrence may not stabilize—it may multiply the risks of accident, escalation, or misinterpretation.
Narrative 3 — China’s Slow Rise, Now Impossible to Ignore
For decades, China insisted it would remain modest in nuclear posture. Beijing’s foreign ministry repeated its No-First-Use pledge and urged Washington and Moscow to cut deeper first. In 2024, China even floated the idea of a mutual NFU pact among the five permanent UN Security Council members.
Yet history complicates this narrative. A 2001 U.S. Congressional Research Service report concluded: “China’s past assistance to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program—ranging from ring magnets to warhead designs—is among the most significant cases of nuclear proliferation since the Cold War.” Scholars such as Gary Milhollin, founder of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, have likewise argued that
“without China’s help, Pakistan would not have the bomb.”
Now, with China firmly entrenched as a superpower, Russia openly modernizing its arsenal, and the United States still fielding the largest deployed stockpile, the danger is no longer just their own weapons. Each has the industrial capacity and political leverage to help other nations cross the nuclear threshold. It was no accident that Iran’s leaders stood as honored guests in Beijing’s reviewing stands.
And here lies the dark arithmetic: the more nations that acquire nuclear arms, the higher the odds one day a bomb will be used recklessly. Deterrence is stable only when the number of fingers on the trigger is few. When it becomes many, the chances of miscalculation or desperation to rise exponentially.
China’s position remains: joining U.S.A and Russia talks is “neither reasonable nor realistic” until their much larger arsenals shrink. But its actions show ambition. In the words of one AP correspondent covering the event: “This was the moment China revealed not just its muscles, but its intent to be recognized as a peer.”. Analysts at SIPRI estimate China now has roughly 600 nuclear warheads, with the Pentagon projecting further rapid growth. More telling: Beijing showcased its nuclear triad and land-based missiles, submarines, and bombers, for the first time.
The Silent Story — The Human Cost No One Talks About
Amid speeches and salutes, what was missing were whispers of science. Models published in Nature Food show even a regional nuclear war let’s say, between India and Pakistan could inject soot into the stratosphere, collapsing global harvests. A U.S. & Russia exchange? “Over five billion could starve,” researchers warned.
Xi declared:
“Today, mankind is faced with the choice of peace or war, dialogue or confrontation, win-win cooperation or zero-sum rivalry.”
His words resonate not as triumph, but as a warning: these choices are no longer theoretical. The famine math is unforgiving.
Key Takeaways
- Xi’s exchange with soldiers—“Comrades, you’ve worked hard!” / “We serve the People!”—was the symbolic heartbeat of China’s military rise.
- Arms-control frameworks are collapsing; by 2026, no treaties may restrain U.S., Russia, or China.
- China now fields a true nuclear triad, cementing its role as a peer superpower.
- Multipolarity could stabilize—or destabilize—the world.
- Beyond geopolitics, science warns: any nuclear use risks planetary famine.
Questions This Article Answers
- What did Xi Jinping and Chinese soldiers shout during the 2025 military parade?
- Is China now officially a nuclear superpower?
- What treaties once limited nuclear weapons, and why are they failing?
- Does a three-way nuclear world bring stability or risk?
- What would a nuclear exchange mean for humanity’s survival?
- Do we have a new superpower?
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China’s 2025 military parade, where Xi Jinping and soldiers exchanged chants of loyalty, marked Beijing’s emergence as a nuclear superpower. With U.S. and Russian treaties collapsing, are we entering a three-way arms race that could stabilize global power—or spark catastrophe?
