Celebrating like never before: China marks World War Two victory over Japan

Chinese President Xi Jinping and all of the top officials in his government have made a rare joint appearance to mark 69 years since Japan’s surrender at the end of the Second World War. The ceremony on Wednesday was the first since Beijing earlier this year declared Sept. 3 as a national day to mark Japan’s defeat. In the past, the event had been a low-key ceremony. It comes as relations between the two countries continue to sour over territorial and historical disputes.

We want to make sure that such aggression will never happen to China and to any other country. Only by … remembering history can we achieve this goal, because otherwise if we let the politicians in Japan … do what they want, history will be rewritten.

Victor Gao, a former Chinese diplomat, speaking to state broadcaster China Central Television

Tensions between China and Japan rose further this year after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in January visited the Yasukuni shrine, which honours Japan’s war dead, including convicted war criminals. On Wednesday, Abe sought to repair some of the frayed diplomatic relations, picking two veteran members of parliament with friendly ties to China for top leadership posts in his Liberal Democratic Party. In Tokyo, Abe’s spokesman also called on China to “look forward” and not back.

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