No Western leaders will be among the 26 foreign heads of state and government attending the parade next week with the exception of Robert Fico, prime minister of Slovakia, a European Union member state, according to the Chinese foreign ministry on Thursday.

Against the backdrop of China's growing military might during the "Victory Day" parade on September 3, the three leaders will project a major show of solidarity not just between China and the Global South, but also with sanctions-hit Russia and North Korea. 

Russia, which Beijing counts as a strategic partner, has been battered by multiple rounds of Western sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with its economy on the brink of slipping into recession. Putin, wanted by the International Criminal Court, last travelled in China in 2024. 

North Korea, a formal treaty ally of China's, has been under United Nations Security Council sanctions since 2006 over its development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Kim last visited China in January 2019. 

Those attending the parade marking the formal surrender of Japan during World War II will include Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko, Iran's President Masoud Pezashkian, President Prabowo, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, said Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hong Lei at a news conference. 

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic will also attend the parade. 

The United Nations will be represented by Under-Secretary-General Li Junhua, who previously served in various capacities at the Chinese foreign ministry, including time as the Chinese ambassador to Italy, San Marino and Myanmar. 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not on a list of attendees for the parade published by Chinese state media on Thursday that included President Prabowo and Myanmar's junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, AFP reported.

Modi did not attend Beijing's 2015 parade.

China and India announced in August that they would restart direct flights, advance talks on their disputed border, and boost trade. 

On the day, President Xi Jinping will survey tens of thousands of troops at Tiananmen Square alongside the foreign dignitaries and senior Chinese leaders. 

The highly choreographed parade, to be one of China's largest in years, will showcase cutting-edge equipment like fighter jets, missile defence systems and hypersonic weapons.

Hosting this many leaders gives Beijing a chance to "demonstrate convening power", said Lizzi Lee from the Asia Society Policy Institute.

But substantial outcomes are not expected, she added, as the summit would be more about optics and agenda-setting. 

"The SCO runs by consensus, and when you have countries deeply divided on core issues like India and Pakistan, or China and India, in the same room, that naturally limits ambition," Lee told AFP.

Beijing wants to show it can bring diverse leaders together and reinforce the idea that global governance is "not Western-dominated", she added. 

Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Bin said Friday that the summit will bring stability in the face of "hegemonism and power politics", a veiled reference to the United States.