Objectives:
This study investigates how China’s 2025 Victory Day parade functioned as an act of strategic signalling aimed at influencing international security perceptions, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region. It seeks to answer the question: How do authoritarian states use visible military displays to send composite signals of capability and intent to diverse global audiences?

Methods:
The study employs a qualitative content analysis of open-source materials, including academic articles, think tank reports, and international media coverage. It applies theoretical frameworks from strategic signalling theory, the security dilemma, and perception/misperception studies. The analysis focuses on how the parade was interpreted by three strategic cohorts: the United States and its allies, ASEAN middle powers, and Global South observers.

Results:
The parade integrated advanced military capabilities, such as hypersonic missiles, stealth aircraft, drone swarms, and counter-drone systems, with political symbolism, including leadership rhetoric and alliance imagery. The United States and allied countries largely interpreted the event as escalatory, prompting deterrence-oriented responses. ASEAN states displayed strategic ambivalence, balancing concern with pragmatic engagement. Global South actors often viewed the parade as a legitimate expression of multipolar leadership and national sovereignty.

Conclusions:
Military parades like China’s are not merely ceremonial but serve as sophisticated tools of statecraft. They influence defence planning, alliance cohesion, and strategic narratives. The study introduces a visibility–ambiguity framework to decode such events and calls for greater awareness of how diverse audiences interpret public military signalling in contested geopolitical environments.