Overview

• North Korean and Chinese authorities confirmed Kim Jong Un will travel to Beijing next week for the Sept. 3 parade on Tiananmen Square.
• Chinese state media say 26 foreign leaders are due, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, with major U.S. and Western European leaders not invited.
• Invitees highlighted by state outlets include Iran’s Massud Peseschkian, Belarus’s Alexander Lukashenko, Serbia’s Aleksandar Vučić and Slovakia’s Robert Fico, while South Korea plans to send parliamentary speaker Woo Won-shik.
• India’s Narendra Modi is slated to attend the SCO summit in Tianjin over the weekend but is not expected at the Beijing parade, and tagesschau reports Fico as the only EU head of government set to attend.
• Chinese officials say the event will debut hypersonic systems, missile-defense capabilities and strategic rockets, with new tanks and unmanned vehicles also slated for display amid tightened security in the capital.