China says Putin, Kim Jong Un to attend Sep 3 WWII military parade in Beijing
China has also named Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong among the invited foreign guests, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was notably absent.
BEIJING:Â Foreign leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, will attend a massive military parade in Beijing marking 80 years since the formal surrender of Japan during World War II, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
Attending the Sep 3 parade will be 26 foreign heads of state and government, alongside other dignitaries, Assistant Foreign Minister Hong Lei said at a news conference on Thursday (Aug 28).
The guest list covers a raft of Southeast Asian leaders, including Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Vietnam's President Luong Cuong.
The foreign ministry also named Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong among the invited guests attending the parade. CNA has contacted Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to confirm his attendance.
Also attending will be Belarus' President Aleksandr Lukashenko, Iran's President Masoud Pezashkian and South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was notably absent from the announced list, despite speculation he might attend given his expected presence at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin just days earlier between Aug 31 and Sep 1.
The United Nations will be represented by Under-Secretary-General Li Junhua, who previously served in various capacities at the Chinese foreign ministry, including time as the Chinese ambassador to Italy, San Marino and Myanmar.
No major Western and European Union leaders are among the 26 foreign heads of state and government attending, apart from Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico, China's foreign ministry said, as quoted by Reuters.
China's "Victory Day" parade on Sep 3 is set to be a major projection of China's growing military might and a show of diplomatic solidarity between China, Russia and the Global South.
On the day, President Xi Jinping will survey tens of thousands of troops at Tiananmen Square alongside the foreign dignitaries and senior Chinese leaders.
The highly choreographed military parade, expected to be one of China's largest in years, will showcase cutting-edge equipment like fighter jets, missile defence systems and hypersonic weapons.
"QUITE UNUSUAL" FOR KIM JONG UN TO ATTEND
According to North Korea's state media KCNA, Kim is visiting at Xi's invitation.
"It is quite unusual for Kim to attend a Victory Day ceremony, and it may be the first time Kim is attending a gathering of many heads of state, where he can meet Putin, Xi and Vietnam's Communist Party chief at once," said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
Kim did not attend China’s previous World War II parade in 2015, opting instead to send senior official Choe Ryong-hae as Pyongyang's representative.
"Kim will seek to broaden his global status as a leader, and North Korea, China and Russia may seek to jointly respond to cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the US," said Yang.
North Korea is under heavy international sanctions imposed over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes that were developed in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
Experts and international officials say the sanctions have lost much of their bite amid growing economic, military, and political support from Russia and China.
Beijing has been one of North Korea's traditional allies and a major economic lifeline for the isolated state, though China joined other countries like the US in applying international sanctions in 2017 on Pyongyang.
Xi and Kim met several times in 2018 and 2019, but relations between North Korea and China have cooled since 2020 over what experts say are issues such as Beijing pushing for the repatriation of North Korean labourers.
