China eyes a new world order

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 6 September 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kate Adie introduces stories from China, Afghanistan, Spain, Armenia and Finland.

In Beijing this week, President Xi Jinping declared his country to be ‘unstoppable’. Flanked by President Putin and North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un at a vast military parade, China put on a striking display of its growing military power. BBC China correspondent Laura Bicker was watching on in Beijing.

Afghanistan was struck by an earthquake last Sunday, destroying homes and triggering landslides, killing around 1400 people. Yogita Limaye has been in Jalalabad where she saw the rescue effort first hand, amid the strict social rules imposed by the Taliban.

Spain has been experiencing some of its worst wildfires in recent years and among the affected areas is Galicia - a region usually known for high rainfall and lush vegetation. It’s also where you can find Europe’s largest herd of wild horses - which are credited with helping to limit the spread of the fires. John Murphy went to find out more.

Last month, leaders from Armenia and Azerbaijan finalised a peace agreement aimed at ending a decades-old conflict between the two countries. Julia Paul travelled to Armenia to visit an innovative scheme using digital technology to preserve the country’s Christian heritage, lost or damaged during the war years.

And Finland is celebrating 80 years of the Moomins! The family of gentle trolls and their friends have garnered fans around the world since the first book was published by author Tove Jansson in 1945. Heidi Fuller Love has been exploring how the characters have come to embody Finnish values.

Series Producer: Serena Tarling Production Coordinator: Rosie Strawbridge Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello,
0:00.4	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:05.3	Hello, today, after an earthquake struck the remote Kuna province of Afghanistan,
0:11.1	we hear how the relief effort is being handled under Taliban control.
0:15.9	In Galicia, in northwest Spain, we reveal the role that wild horses play in preventing wildfires.
0:23.8	Azerbaijan and Armenia recently signed an agreement to bring decades of conflict to an end.
0:29.6	We visit an innovative project restoring heritage lost during the war years.
0:35.0	And finally, we're in Finland, which is celebrating 80 years of the
0:39.5	Moomin's. But first to China, where this week President Xi Jinping declared his country to be
0:46.7	unstoppable, as he warned the world faced a choice between peace and war. At a parade marking 80 years since China's victory over Japan in
0:56.7	World War II, President Xi was flanked by President Putin, who he called an old friend,
1:03.5	as well as North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-un. The parade was a visible show of
1:09.3	solidarity between the three leaders, as well as a display of China's growing military prowess.
1:15.7	A China correspondent Laura Bicker was watching in Beijing.
1:19.9	As the cannon fire echoed through Tiananmen Square, even before the first set of troops goose stepped their way through Beijing's Central Avenue,
1:29.3	the day's most enduring image unfolded.
1:32.6	China's President Xi Jinping welcomed North Korea's Kim Jong-un with a long handshake,
1:38.5	then moved on to greet Russia's Vladimir Putin,
1:41.6	before he walked to his seat, flanked by two of the world's most sanctioned
1:46.7	leaders. It was sheer political theatre, and it was this meeting rather than the weaponry
1:52.8	that appears to have irked the US President Donald Trump. The Chinese leader has stolen the
1:58.9	limelight, and he's using it to show his power and influence over an Eastern-led alliance.
	...

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