Ending weeks of speculation, India has accepted China’s invitation to a military parade in Beijing on September 3 to celebrate the end of World War II.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh will represent India, sources here and Beijing said on Wednesday.
China has invited the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Russia, even Japan and other nations to the parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary celebrations of what it calls the “victory of the anti-fascist forces”.
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New Delhi was cautious in accepting the invitation, weighing in the consequences on its bilateral ties with Japan.
Chinese Ambassador to India Le Yucheng recalled on Tuesday the support Beijing received during the war from leaders like Mahatama Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.
“Chinese and Indian soldiers, as military allies, fought shoulder-to-shoulder in Myanmar. And the Indian Army was instrumental in inflicting a serious land defeat suffered by the Japanese in the war,” Mr. Le said at a seminar on the shared memories of World War II.
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While Japan has not reacted to India’s decision to attend the parade, H.S. Prabhakar of the Centre for East Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, said it was unlikely to affect bilateral ties.
Ties with Japan“Relations between India and Japan have been strengthened over time, even after the war when the International Military Tribunal [for the Far East’s trials of Japanese war crimes committed during the WW-II] was set up.
India submitted a judgment which said the defendants were not guilty. India also did not sign the 1952 peace treaty, opting to sign a separate peace treaty with Japan; so Tokyo and New Delhi have an independent relationship,” he told The Hindu .