China announces September military parade to mark end of WWII

BEIJING - China announced on Tuesday that it will stage a major parade in September to mark 80 years since the end of World War II.

President Xi Jinping will preside over the event at Beijing's Tiananmen Square on 3 September, a senior military official said at a news conference.

The parade will feature ground troops marching in formation, aircraft flypasts and high-tech fighting equipment.

The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend, while other world leaders are also expected at the anniversary commemorations.

"The Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Central Military Commission have decided to hold a grand military parade at Tiananmen in the capital on September 3 this year," Wu Zeke from China's military commission said.

"Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the State and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, will inspect the troops."

State news agency Xinhua said the parade would feature "marching formations, armoured columns and aerial echelons".

The event will also show off "new types of combat forces including unmanned, intelligent equipment", Xinhua said.

In 2015, China put on a huge parade with a 70-gun salute and thousands of troops marching in tight formation through Tiananmen Square.

Tanks and missiles followed, while nearly 200 aircraft performed a flypast in powder-blue skies.

Chinese authorities mobilised hundreds of thousands of spectators, closed roads across much of the city centre, shuttered airports and curtailed pollution-spewing factories and vehicles to ensure blue skies.

Tuesday's announcement comes less than 10 days after US President Donald Trump hosted the largest American military parade in decades on his 79th birthday.

Trump hailed the United States as the "hottest country in the world" after watching tanks, aircraft and troops file past him in Washington to honour the 250th anniversary of the US army.