By Laurie Chen

BEIJING (Reuters) -China will hold its largest-ever military parade on Wednesday, in a show of its growing firepower and geopolitical clout as President Xi Jinping seeks to cast Beijing as the custodian of a post-U.S. international order.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin and reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Un – pariahs in the West due to the Ukraine war and Kim’s nuclear ambitions – will flank Xi in an unprecedented gathering to mark 80 years since Japan’s defeat at the end of World War Two.

The highly choreographed “Victory Day” spectacle, largely shunned by Western leaders, comes as U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” stance and trade wars have strained Washington’s long-standing alliances.

More than 50,000 spectators at Tiananmen Square will see aerial display

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