BEIJING — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin are expected to flank President Xi Jinping at a massive parade in Beijing on Wednesday morning, in a historic moment capping a week of diplomatic grandstanding against the West.

China will showcase its military prowess with troops marching in formation, flypasts and displays of high-tech fighting gear at the showpiece extravaganza centred on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to mark 80 years since the end of the Second World War.

Millions of Chinese people were killed during a prolonged war with imperial Japan in the 1930s and 40s, which became part of a global conflict following Tokyo’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

All eyes will be on how the trio of Xi, Putin and Kim — who rarely leaves secretive North Korea — interact

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