China's President Xi Jinping has convened his Russian and North Korean counterparts in Beijing for the first time, a show of solidarity with countries shunned by the West over their role in Europe's worst war in 80 years.
Mr Xi hosted Vladimir Putin for talks at the Great Hall of the People and then at his personal residence, calling him his "old friend".
A few hours later, Kim Jong Un's armoured train was spotted by a Reuters witness arriving in the Chinese capital.
Shortly after the train was spotted, a motorcade with a North Korean flag was seen leaving the Beijing Railway Station, a Reuters witness said.
Mr Kim is expected to attend a military parade in Beijing tomorrow, joining Mr Xi and other leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Since becoming the North Korean leader in late 2011, Mr Kim has travelled by train - a slow but specialised form of transport that the reclusive country's leaders have used for decades – to visit China, Vietnam and Russia.
During talks in Beijing ahead of the massive military parade, Mr Putin told his Chinese counterpart that their countries' ties were at an "unprecedented level" during talks in Beijing ahead of a massive military parade.
China has touted the parade as a show of unity with other countries, and Mr Kim's attendance will be the first time he has been seen with Mr Xi and Mr Putin at the same event.
Mr Putin and Mr Kim's visit to Beijing for the military parade underscores the Chinese president's influence over authoritarian regimes intent on redefining the Western-led global order, while US President Donald Trump's isolationist stance strains long-standing US alliances.
The gathering of what Western analysts have dubbed the 'Axis of Upheaval' could build on a mutual defence 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.
In remarks on a pooled live feed, Mr Putin told Mr Xi that "our close communication reflects the strategic nature of Russian-Chinese ties, which are currently at an unprecedented level".
In a nod to cooperation between the two countries during the war, Mr Putin said: "We were always together then and we remain together now."
Mr Xi has embarked on a series of diplomatic meetings this week, including attendance at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in the northern city of Tianjin - a forum that China sees as an alternative to Western-dominated international cooperation.
The military parade tomorrow marks 80 years since the end of World War II and will be attended by around two dozen world leaders.
Watch: Putin and Xi having tea after bilateral talks in Beijing
The Chinese and Russian presidents criticised Western governments during the summit yesterday, where Mr Xi condemned "bullying behaviour" from certain countries - a veiled reference to the United States, while Mr Putin defended Russia's Ukraine offensive and blamed the West for triggering the conflict.
"China-Russia relations have withstood the test of international changes," Mr Xi told Mr Putin.
The Chinese president added that Beijing was willing to work with Moscow to "promote the construction of a more just and reasonable global governance system".
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Russia and China declared a "no limits partnership" shortly before Mr Putin ordered Russia's Ukraine offensive in February 2022.
The expanded military and trade ties since have troubled the West.
China has never denounced Russia's war nor called for it to withdraw its troops.
Many of Ukraine's allies believe that China has provided support to Russia.
It insists it is a neutral party, regularly calling for an end to the fighting while also accusing Western countries of prolonging the conflict by arming Ukraine.
Mr Xi and Mr Putin are in regular contact and held a phone call last month, with the Chinese president saying he was pleased to see Russia and the United States improving their relations.
In May, Mr Xi visited Moscow for Russia's 9 May celebrations of the World War II defeat of the Nazis.
China and Russia "have continued to deepen political mutual trust and strategic cooperation ... and injected valuable stability and positive energy into an international situation full of interwoven turmoil", Mr Xi said during his visit in May.
The Russian and Chinese presidents gathered at the Great Hall of the People for a meeting with Mongolia's leader expected to touch on a vast gas pipeline project and bilateral talks.
Mr Xi told the Russian president and Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh during the meeting that the three countries should strengthen solidarity and cooperation. and increase mutual support.
The Chinese president also held talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, resetting strained bilateral ties, as Mr Trump increased trade pressure on New Delhi over its purchases of Russian oil.
Mr Trump's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent yesterday called the summit "performative" and accused China and India of being "bad actors" by fueling Russia's three-and-a-half-year war with Ukraine.
At a time when Mr Trump is touting his peacemaking credentials, any new concentration of military power in the East that includes Russia will ring alarm bells for the West.
"Trilateral military exercises between Russia, China and North Korea seem nearly inevitable," wrote Youngjun Kim, an analyst at the US-based National Bureau of Asian Research, in March, citing how the conflict in Ukraine has pushed Moscow and Pyongyang closer together.
"Until a few years ago, China and Russia were important partners in imposing international sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear and missile tests ... (they) are now potential military partners of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea during a crisis on the Korean peninsula," he added, using the diplomatically isolated country's official name.
The North Korean leader is an important stakeholder in the conflict in Ukraine: he has supplied over 15,000 troops to support Putin's war.
Read more: China's Xi slams 'bullying' behaviour in world order
The North Korean leader is on his way to Beijing, having crossed the border into China aboard an armoured train.
His appearance in China "formalises the China-Russia-North Korea trilateral (relationship) to the public", Soo Kim, a geopolitical risk consultant and former CIA analyst, told AFP.
In 2024, Mr Kim hosted the Russian president in Pyongyang - the first summit of its kind in 24 years - in a move widely interpreted as a snub to Mr Xi and an attempt to ease his pariah status by reducing North Korea's dependence on China.
About 600 North Korean soldiers have died fighting for Russia in the Kursk region, according to South Korea's intelligence agency, which believes Pyongyang is planning another deployment.
Security around Beijing has tightened in recent days and weeks, with road closures, military personnel stationed on bridges and street corners, and miles upon miles of white barriers lining the capital's wide boulevards.
Art installations with flowers, doves and an emblem showing the Great Wall of China with '1945-2025' have cropped up around the city alongside flags.
Officials have been tight-lipped over the list of hardware to be displayed at the tomorrow's military parade, but military enthusiasts have already spotted significant new systems, including what is rumoured to be a gigantic laser weapon.
The event caps a bumper week of diplomacy for Mr Xi, who yesterday and on Sunday hosted a slew of Eurasian leaders for a summit in the northern port city of Tianjin aimed at putting China front and centre of regional relations.
The club of 10 countries - named the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation - touts itself as a non-Western style of collaboration in the region and seeks to be an alternative to traditional alliances.
