Trump claims Xi and Putin put on ‘impressive’ parade ‘hoping I was watching’

US President Donald Trump offered a rather self-absorbed explanation for a massive military parade held by his Chinese and Russian counterparts Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin in Beijing.

Xi, Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un united at Tiananmen Square to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat and the end of World War II.

Trump was asked by a reporter on Wednesday to comment on his earlier remark that the three dictators were conspiring against the US with the show of solidarity.

‘They’re only this – when they did what they did – I thought it was a beautiful ceremony,’ said Trump in the Oval Office.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left), Chinese President Xi Jinping (center), North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (right) and heads of foreign delegations emerge onto a rostrum in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China, on Wednesday (Picture: Shutterstock)

‘I thought it was very, very impressive, but I understood the reason they were doing it.

‘And they were hoping I was watching — and I was watching.’

The parade marked the first time that Xi, Putin and Kim stood together in an event of its kind. Host Xi walked on a red carpet with Putin and Kim at his side. It was the biggest military parade ever held in China, and two dozen leaders mostly from outside of the West attended.

As the celebration unfolded, Trump posted a sarcastic remark on his Truth Social platform.

US President Donald Trump remarked on the military parade in China during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on Wednesday (Picture: Shutterstock)

‘May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration,’ the US president wrote. 

‘Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America.’

Asked on Wednesday he would have attended the parade had he been invited, Trump replied: ‘It wouldn’t have been my place.’

Trump added that his relationship with many of the leaders ‘is very good’ and that ‘we’re going to find out how good it is over the next week or two’.

He then blasted China for not giving the US credit.

‘I don’t believe that America, that the United States, was acknowledged for helping China to get, to gain its freedom,’ Trump said, adding that it perhaps was a ‘slight of hand’.

‘President Xi is a friend of mine but I thought that the US should have been mentioned last night during that speech because we helped China very much.’

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