Viral image of group photo of world leaders sans PM Shehbaz at China military parade is cropped

The iVerify Pakistan team investigated this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted a reverse image and keyword search to find the original source.

Posts from multiple users, including Indian and Pakistani accounts, on social media platform X on September 3, 2025, shared a group photo of world leaders at China’s military parade held earlier that day, insinuating that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was missing from the photo. However, the image is cropped, and he was present in the group photo.

Chinese President Xi Jinping was joined by 26 world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at a massive parade of military might in Beijing. The event, ostensibly to mark 80 years since the end of World War II, was a chance for Xi to put on an extravaganza to showcase China’s military prowess and bring together friendly leaders to send a message to the rest of the world.

The event was the climax of a whirlwind week for Xi, who hosted a slew of Eurasian leaders for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation aimed at putting China front and centre of regional relations.

HOW IT STARTED

On Sept 3, a close-up photo of world leaders at the Chinese military parade was shared by Jaipur Dialogues, an Indian digital media outlet.

“Where is the begging country, tell?” its caption said.

The post gained 11,800 views.

The same photo was also shared on X by another Indian digital media account, Times Algebra, with the caption: “Shehbaz Sharif sidelined in group photo.”

The post racked up 1.1 million views and 12,000 likes.

The image was shared by a Pakistani X user as well, with the caption: “Looks like Pakistan and its leaders don’t belong to the core that is dear to China? Where is our PM?”

The image was shared by other Indian users on X with the same claim too, as can be seen here, here, here and here.

Republic World, an Indian English news channel, shared the same image in a YouTube video, which gathered over 97,000 views.
The title of the video said: “Four minutes of Shehbaz Sharif’s China humiliation: ignored and cornered by ‘friend’ Xi Jinping.”

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and to address the harm that such allegations can cause.

A reverse image search yielded the actual photo from the Chinese military parade, which showed 26 world leaders. It featured PM Shehbaz standing at the right side of the first row of world leaders, the same row in which President Xi, President Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong are standing. Moreover, Shehbaz is not the last person in the row — two other leaders were standing to his left.

This was also corroborated by several credible and international news outlets, such as Anadolu, BBC, Al Jazeera and Reuters, all of which shared videos from the event. Other photos from the event showed PM Shehbaz arriving at the military parade with Putin, Xi and Kim.

Separately, a keyword search produced no credible news reports that stated Shehbaz was missing from the event.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that a viral image shows PM Shehbaz missing from the Chinese military parade held on September 3 is false.

He attended the event with all the other world leaders and was photographed alongside President Xi, Putin and North Korea’s Kim on multiple occasions.