China’s Foreign Ministry has announced that 30 foreign leaders and heads of state have RSVPed to attend China’s V-Day parade marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Or as China calls it the “victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggressions and the World Anti-Fascist War.”
Confirmed attendees putting the ‘fascist’ in ‘anti-fascist parade’ include Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko, Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir, president of Myanmar Thein Sein and Russian president Vladimir Putin.
One notable absentee is the DPRK’s dear leader, Kim Jong-un. North Korea will instead be represented by Choe Ryong-hae, a senior member of Pyongyang’s elite, reports Yonhap.
South Korea's president Park Geun-hye will be in China on September 3, but has reportedly not decided whether to attend the military parade in Tian’anmen Square.
Also not attending is Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who recently angered China when he failed to issue a new apology for atrocities committed by Japanese troops in WWII. Abe declined the invitation “partly in protest against China’s military build-up in regional waters” and also to pass controversial legislation to expand the role of the Japanese military, according to The Guardian.
China’s Foreign Ministry emphasized that the event is “not directed at any particular country, not at today’s Japan and especially not the Japanese people.” China has previously insisted that the parade “aims to show China’s commitment to peace.”
Former Japanese prime minister Tomiichi Murayama, who 20 years ago did apologize for the suffering inflicted on Japan’s neighbors, will attend, along with other ex-leaders, including Germany’s Gerhard Schroeder and the UK’s Tony Blair, Xinhua tweeted.
The parade will show off more than 500 pieces of military equipment, many of which have never been displayed before, along with 200 aircraft and 10,000 troops marching in formation. Because nothing celebrates peace like military bombast.
The PLA will be decked out in brand-new uniforms and, bizarrely, have promised “tightfitting designs” for the lady soldiers.
This is the first time China has held a military parade to mark the war with Japan and Beijing has taken extraordinary measures to ensure the event goes perfectly. Over the weekend, shops, restaurants, roads and subway lines were closed in Beijing for the dress rehearsal. Factories will also be shuttered in the week leading up to the big day to ensure that skies are blue, and Beijing’s airport will suspend flights for three hours on September 3. But perhaps, most importantly, we’ll all get a day off to watch the proceedings.
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