Russian president to attend China’s military parade

ISLAMABAD: Close on the heels of India inviting US President Barack Obama for its Republic Day parade, China on Tuesday announced the plan to hold a major military parade and will be inviting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It is likely that Pakistan’s higher echelon of military leadership will also be invited. According to wire reports, departing from the practice of conducting such events once in a decade, China will hold the military parade this year in Beijing to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the victories of World War II, the official media reported in Beijing.
China will tighten security for the event, Fu Zhenghua, chief of the Beijing Public Security Bureau, was quoted as saying by the state run China-org.cn.The Chinese Foreign Ministry has confirmed that Russian state leaders will attend Russian state leaders will attend the war commemoration, making this the first time that foreign state leaders will attend a Chinese military parade.
President Vladimir Putin is likely to be present at the event. China usually holds a military parade every 10 years to celebrate the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The most recent parade was held in 2009.
India’s Republic Day parade drew lot of media attention in Chinese capital as Obama became the first American President to attend it.His visit also drew lot of flak in the Chinese media which alleged that it was aimed splitting India’s ties with China and Russia.