Soldiers from China, Russia, and other countries held a rehearsal in Beijing on August 23 for a military parade next month that commemorates the end of World War II.
Chinese state media reported that other countries with troops taking part in the September 3 parade will include Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Cuba, and Mexico.
Correspondents on August 23 reported seeing fighter jets flying lower over Beijing while military vehicles rumbled through the city center.
The parade is widely seen as a display of the growing capabilities of the People's Liberation Army at a time when Beijing is asserting territorial claims in the South China Sea and the East China Sea.
A decree on the Japanese surrender by Emperor Hirohito was announced over radio on August 14, 1945.
The formal Japanese surrender ceremony took place aboard a U.S. Navy battleship, the U.S.S. Missouri, in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.
