What’s in a name? Trump revives ‘War Department’ as rivals close ranks

On September 5, Trump signed an executive order giving the Pentagon the additional title. Two days earlier, half a world away in China, President Xi Jinping presided over China’s largest military parade in decades, joined by Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un.

Trump, despite often claiming strong personal ties with Xi, Putin and Kim, appeared unsettled by the display. He dismissed the parade as a “conspiracy” among the three leaders and read it as a direct message from the world’s largest standing military — America’s main rival in firepower.

“I thought it was a beautiful ceremony. I thought it was very, very impressive,” Trump said. “But I understood the reason they were doing it — they were hoping I was watching, and I was watching.”

For Ila Joshi, an international relations scholar focused on China and India, the Victory Day event was meant as a blunt signal to Washington.

“It was definitely a show of might and strength and a very traditional understanding of power that we saw,” Joshi told Global South World. 

The September 3 parade marked the anniversary of the end of World War II and the Second Sino-Japanese War. For more than 70 minutes, the People’s Liberation Army showcased domestically built missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weapons. 

Notably, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi skipped the ceremony, despite attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in China days earlier.

Against the backdrop of Trump’s renaming order and China’s martial display, Joshi argued that world leaders remain trapped in a narrow view of power.

“Foreign policy being understood only in terms of war is again something which is very disturbing,” she said. “I think that the very masculinities which were being shown off there, those were something which I guess we also need to rethink about.” 

While the parade and summit stirred talk of an emerging anti-Western bloc, they also highlighted the tightening alignment of countries with strained relations with Washington.

That, Joshi suggested, should serve as a warning for Trump.

“Trump's erratic behaviour is not going to solve the issues,” Joshi said. “They should actually contemplate now what has been done by the Trump administration.”

“Even if it is Trump, I guess present Trump is intelligent enough to understand the repercussions. Now, he should be intelligent enough not to repeat those mistakes.”