China is moving ahead with its military parade that coincides with the end of World War II or "Victory of the Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War," as it officially calls the event, 70 years ago.

The military display is unprecedented as military parades in China used to only be held once in a decade and always during founding of the People's Republic on October 1. The parade is meant to consolidate President Xi Jinping's power in China since taking over in 2012.

It is, just as well, a "crude reminder" to the rest of the world of China's status in the world stage today,Bloomberg reports. The parade is being shunned by the West with the absence of its wartime allies, the US, UK, and France. Germany, a lead European nation today, is also noticeably absent. Japan's absence comes as no surprise.

"China has adopted a calm attitude toward the absence of some Western leaders," Yahoo News quotes the Global Times newspaper, a media outlet close to the ruling party." It adds, "However, Japan is busy hiding itself from this grand event."

The most high-profile attendee will be Russian President Vladimir Putin. Xi went to a similar event in Russia last May which was also similarly shunned by Western powers for Russia's role in the eastern Ukraine crisis that annexed the Crimea.

Confirmed guests are South Korea President Park Geun-Hye, whose country was colonized by Japan, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, which shares a seat with China in the BRICS group of major emerging economies, and UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon.

More controversial guests include the leaders of Kazakhstan and Venezuela. Sudan's Omar al-Bashir, who is indicted by the International Criminal Court, is also attending.

Beijing is also going through a lot of trouble to make sure the celebration will be perfect. For instance, it is mobilizing hundreds of thousands of Beijing citizens, closing down its airport, and shutting down smog-producing factories.