Overview

• China’s foreign ministry confirmed Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un will attend the Tiananmen Square parade marking 80 years since Japan’s WWII surrender.
• Beijing says 26 foreign leaders are invited, with Slovakia’s Robert Fico expected to be the only Western head of government in attendance.
• The People’s Liberation Army plans to unveil equipment not previously shown publicly, including advanced drones, electronic jamming systems, hypersonic weapons, and air and missile‑defense technology.
• Kim’s visit would be his first trip to China since 2019 and his first multilateral appearance with other leaders, and no bilateral or trilateral meetings have been announced.
• Attendance lists include Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian, Belarus’s Aleksandr Lukashenko, Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto, Serbia’s Aleksandar Vucic and South Korea’s National Assembly Speaker Woo Won‑shik, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s participation remains unclear during his SCO trip to China.