No main Western leaders are attending.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon will also go.

In a statement earlier this month to mark the 70 anniversary of the end of the war, Abe said that Japan would continue to uphold past apologies to its victims. The communist regime will be represented by Choe Ryong-hae, considered to be the third highest-ranking official in the country.

Thanks to the Chinese people, the Japanese troops were not able to proceed further to attack the eastern part of the Soviet Union, or make inroads into India, Australia and perhaps the Middle East, as the then US president Franklin D. Roosevelt feared in a worst scenario.

The September 3 parade will include more than 10,000 Chinese troops, who will pass the giant rostrum in central Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, either on foot or in vehicles, while close to 200 military aircraft fly in formations overhead.

“Their basis is in feeling of honest friendship and sympathy between our peoples, deep mutual respect and trust, consideration of key interests of each other, interest in prosperity of our countries“, Lavrov wrote. A foreign military unit will be composed of five rows of 15 soldiers.

Chinese officials say that through the military parade, history and the future can be connected and the message of peace and development can be sent.

Prior to this official confirmation, there was speculation that Kim Yong Nam, president of North Korea’s Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, would attend the upcoming celebrations given that he appeared at similar festivities in Russian Federation this past May.

“With oil prices plunging, we think it’s unavoidable that it hasn’t been able to achieve its original objective”, Abe said in parliament on Monday.

A source in Beijing told the JoongAng Ilbo that an advance team from Seoul’s Foreign Ministry and the Blue House is consulting with Chinese authorities on the specifics of Park’s trip including protocols to receive her. They participated in parade rehearsals on Thursday and Saturday last week.

Japan’s Sankei newspaper wrote that Abe had reportedly decided to align himself with Western leaders who are not attending the parade due to the increasingly expansionist nature of the Chinese military.

“The decision was made taking into consideration the Parliamentary proceedings and other situations”, Suga said. The ruling coalition is now battling to pass controversial security bills to overhaul Japan’s defense policy.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will also not attend, in part because of concerns over China’s military expansion in the region.