The former British prime minister Tony Blair will be there, watching thousands of Chinese troops strut in unison past Tiananmen Square, accompanied by tanks as well as missiles and fighter jets overhead.
So will the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, as well as the presidents of Belarus, Egypt, Myanmar, Pakistan and Venezuela and the secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon.
On Tuesday, the Chinese government announced the foreign leaders scheduled to watch the vast military parade in central Beijing next week, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Japan and other Axis powers in World War II. Zhang Ming, a vice minister of foreign affairs, read out the V.I.P. guest list for the parade at a news conference in Beijing, and he said he was pleased with the lineup for the parade on Sept. 3.
The parade will feature more than 10,000 Chinese troops who will pass by the rostrum at Tiananmen as close to 200 military aircraft fly overhead.
“The foreign dignitaries attending the commemoration come from every major continent and are highly representative,” Mr. Zhang said. China, he added, would “invite the great family of the international community and to celebrate this great day together with the Chinese people.”
But when Mr. Zhang read the names, the absences were also notable from the eclectic guest list, dominated by governments eager to maintain good ties with China.
Senior Western leaders, including President Obama, were never likely to appear at the People’s Liberation Army extravaganza that, while celebrating the defeat of fascism, has exuded swaggering pride in China’s growing military strength.
But Mr. Zhang dismissed the idea that the Chinese government might be insulted by the absence of senior Western leaders from the long-planned parade.
“It’s up to each country to decide whom to send to attend,” he said.
A China Central Television report on foreign journalists visiting a training site for troops preparing for the parade.
There had been speculation that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan might turn up in Beijing, without watching the military march. But Mr. Abe’s office emphatically ruled that out on Monday. Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader who has stayed markedly aloof from China, will also be absent, despite his government’s need for economic and political support from Beijing.
Mr. Zhang denied that the display of Chinese armed might was intended to intimidate Japan.
“We have stressed a number of times that the commemoration is not aimed at specific countries, and nor is it aimed at current-day Japan, and even less is it aimed at the Japanese people,” he said.
A former Japanese prime minister, Tomiichi Murayama, who when in office supported an apology for his country’s wartime misdeeds, will attend. North Korea will be represented by a senior official in the ruling Workers’ Party.
Mr. Blair is not attending as an official representative of the British government. Mr. Zhang said that Britain would be represented by Kenneth Clarke, a senior Conservative politician who once served as the justice secretary.
In addition to 30 state leaders, the attendees will include 19 senior representatives, including from Australia, Brazil and France, which will be represented by its foreign minister, Laurent Fabius.
Also on hand at the parade will be nearly 1,000 troops from 17 countries, said Qu Rui, deputy operations chief for the People’s Liberation Army’s General Staff Headquarters. Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, Serbia and Tajikistan are contributing formations of about 75 personnel each. Afghanistan, Cambodia, Fiji, Laos, Vanuatu and Venezuela have sent teams of about seven people each, he said.
Follow Chris Buckley on Twitter @ChuBailiang.