With the approaching of V-day parade on Sept 3, there have been more and more online discussions about it.

One of the focuses of the discussions is: Why the countries on the V-Day Parade guest list are all underdeveloped countries, and where are the European and North American countries?

Before answering these questions, we’d better take a look at the guest list of V-Day parade.

According to authorities from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China has invited 51 countries to attend, 49 of which have accepted the invitation, except for Japan and the Philippines.

Of these 49 countries, the heads of 30 countries and senior officials of 19 will be present for the parade.

Additionally, Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of United Nations, and 9 leaders of other international and regional organizations will also be attending the event.

Moreover, seventeen countries will send their troops to participate in the parade, while troops from 31 countries will be watching the parade.

The heads of the countries in red will attend the parade. Countries in yellow will send senior officials to the parade

Even though the heads of the major European and North American countries will not be present, it is not difficult to find their representative senior officials such as Foreign Ministers on the guest list.

It is thus extremely inaccurate, and chauvinistic, to say that “only the underdeveloped countries are going to the parade”.

Why aren’t the heads going then?

Global Times listed two reasons. Firstly, as Russia is waging “cold war” with the Western countries over Crimea and Ukraine, the presence of President Putin in the parade would become a serious consideration for the heads of the Western countries.

Secondly, the cold war mentality is still haunting these countries. They harbor misgivings over the peaceful rise and military power of China.

Chinese and Russian soldiers take photo together

These are unnecessary worries. China has officially emphasized many times that the parade is not targeting at any country, but only serves as a reminder of how hard-won peace is.