In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping, centre, and foreign leaders including Russia President Vladimir Putin, centre left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, centre right, walk to Tiananmen Rostrum ahead of a ceremony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender in Beijing, China, on 3 September 2025. (source: Shen Hong)
Welcome to your weekly commentary and overview of news from Slovakia. Prime Minister Fico practised what he calls “sovereign” foreign policy between Beijing and Uzhhorod. A pro-Ukrainian civil society organisation, which is holding a protest on Friday, wrote to Zelensky. Donatello’s authorship of a rare sculpture from Slovakia is questioned by a leading expert.
If you have a suggestion on how to make this overview better, let me know at michaela.terenzani@spectator.sk.
Fico was among the extras in Beijing
This is what the world should look like from China’s perspective: a parade of world leaders headed by Xi Jinping, with Vladimir Putin at his right hand and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un at his left. Western leaders are nowhere in sight; only a few faces, stragglers at the tail of the procession, come from the EU.
This is what one could see on the photos of leaders walking to the military parade in Beijing last Wednesday, which was ostensibly held to celebrate the end of World War II in Asia.
At the back of the group of mostly men in suits, the face of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico can be seen. Although he was the only leader from the European Union to attend the Chinese celebrations, representatives of two other EU member states are in the photo: Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Zafirov. Serbian president Alexander Vučić attended too.
Though the leaders of the vast majority of western countries ignored the celebrations in Beijing, which the Chinese regime used to demonstrate its leadership potential and ambition to rival the West, observers agree that the parade was filled with messages directed at spectators in the West. "They were hoping I was watching, and I was watching," confirmed US President Donald Trump.
Unlike him, the Slovak PM got to see the “very, very impressive” parade (as described by Trump) in person. He was one of the extras convened for the event. Most of the people that surrounded him rose to power or secured their roles in their respective countries through military coups, rigged elections or civil wars – or by dint of birth, thanks to their clan or family connections.
