North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un and Russian President, Vladimir Putin will join 26 foreign heads of state and government at China’s massive military parade next week, organized to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced Thursday.
The event, set for September 3 in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, is part of China’s commemorations of Japan’s formal surrender that ended WWII in 1945.
North Korean state news agency KCNA confirmed Kim’s attendance, in what would be the North Korean leader’s first visit to China since 2019.
Beijing is projecting military strength at a time of heightened geopolitical uncertainty as US President Donald Trump upends American alliances and partnerships.
It also comes amid China’s increasingly assertive posture toward Taiwan and its territorial disputes with neighboring countries.
Assistant Foreign Minister Hong Lei told reporters at a briefing in Beijing that “a total of 26 foreign heads of state and government will attend the event, including Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.”
Notably absent from the list is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, despite his visit to Tianjin this weekend for a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Myanmar’s junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, serving as acting president following the 2021 military coup that plunged the country into civil war, will also be present.
The parade, which will feature more than 10,000 troops and hundreds of advanced weapons, is intended to demonstrate China’s expanding military power under Xi Jinping’s ambitious modernization of the People’s Liberation Army.