XI, GUESTS ATTEND V-DAY MILITARY PARADE – Walking beside President Xi were Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, North Korean Leader
Chinese President Xi Jinping and international guests ascended the Tian’anmen Rostrum in Beijing on Wednesday morning and attended a grand gathering to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japan
China was the first to fight against Japan and sustained the longest resistance. In the 14-year-long war, Chinese casualties exceeded 35 million. With the huge national sacrifice, the Chinese people held ground in the main theater in the East of the World Anti-Fascist War.
Japan surrendered on Sept 2, 1945, signing the Instrument of Surrender to China and other Allied powers. China celebrated the victory the following day. In 2014, the country legislated to designate Sept 3 as Victory Day of its War of Resistance.
President Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered a speech at the gathering and reviewed the troops of 45 formations and echelons at a grand military parade.
Walking beside President Xi were Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, the top leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, along with more than 20 other foreign leaders.
Representatives of people who had supported China’s WWII fight, or their family members from countries such as Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Canada were also invited to the commemoration event.
