By James Pomfret, Laurie Chen, Mei Mei Chu and Antoni Slodkowski

HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) -When Chinese leader Xi Jinping organised his first parade to mark the anniversary of the end of World War Two, in 2015, he placed his two predecessors by his side in a show of respect and continuity of leadership.

Ten years on and having eliminated domestic opposition as he serves an unprecedented third term as president, Xi was flanked on Wednesday at the 80th anniversary parade by Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

Chinese Communist Party leaders were interspersed among overseas guests.

The parade followed Xi’s high-profile summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a weekend meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tianjin, and the Chinese leader

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