China, Russia to mark 70th anniversary of the end of second world war in show of unity
Military parades and war anniversary give the two nations a platform to offset US influence, analysts say, while diplomats reassure Japan
China and Russia will consolidate their united front with a series of high level exchanges in coming months, with a particular emphasis on joint commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war.
Diplomats from both nations outlined their plans for the commemorations yesterday, but stressed they were not targeting Japan in an apparent attempt to avoid provoking the volatile Sino-Japanese relationship.
The highlights of the commemorations will be a military parade in Moscow in May, which will be attended by President Xi Jinping , and a military parade in Beijing in September, to which Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited.
"Both Russia and China hold responsible positions and are efficient at coordination in the most complicated world issues, and that has made our cooperation an important part of international relations," the Russian ambassador to China, Andrey Ivanovich Denisov, said.
Chinese and Russian students and archaeologists will in May embark on a month-long project - the first of its kind - to locate the remains of 388 Soviet army soldiers who died fighting the Japanese near the Sino-Russian border 70 years ago.
China would continue to promote visits by mainland tourists to Moscow and Ulyanovsk, the hometown of late Russian communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, Deputy Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping said.
Li Lifan , a Russian affairs expert at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said the war commemorations provided a platform for the two nations to display their mutual trust and offset the influence of the US.