A boy places a flower on a sculpture depicting Chinese fighters during the World War II. (Photo : Reuters)
Top leaders from China and Russia are set to attend events commemorating victory in World War II in both countries, Beijing announced on Friday.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that China and Russia, which were two major battlegrounds during the war, will hold a series of events to mark the 70th anniversary of victory in the Second World War, with state leaders attending commemorations in each country.
Russian Ambassador Andrey Denisov also confirmed to reporters that top officials will be attending military parades in both nations, in response to earlier reports that the Chinese government is planning a rare military parade in Beijing to mark the anniversary on Sept. 3, which also coincides with China's victory day commemoration of the war.
It would be the first such parade in the nation's capital since President Xi Jinping took office and a drastic change from the government's practice of staging such events once every decade on Oct. 1, China's National Day.
President Xi has issued preliminary confirmation of his attendance at events in Moscow on Russia's Victory Day on May 9, Denisov said, adding that a 60-member Chinese military delegation is also expected to attend the annual parade in Red Square.
Denisov also said that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin will be visiting China in September during the anniversary.
Feng Yujun, an expert on Russian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that the celebrations put a spotlight on China's contributions on the eastern front to securing victory in World War II.
Feng also said that the close cooperation between China and Russia over the anniversary also highlights the deep trust and shared concerns between the two nations regarding the distortion of historical facts and the attempt to "break the postwar order."
China was heavily involved in engagements with Japanese ground troops during the war, which is also known in the country as the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression or the Second Sino-Japanese War. From 1937 to 1945, approximately 1.95 million Japanese soldiers were either killed or wounded, with about 70 percent of these casualties happening in China.
Former President Hu Jintao was one of the guests invited to Russia's Victory Day parades in 2005 and 2010, with troops from the United States, Britain and France joining the march through Red Square for the first time.
