CHINA held national celebrations yesterday commemorating victory against Japanese aggression in the second world war amid rising tensions between the two countries.

It was the first time the new Victory Day of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, commemorating Japan’s surrender to US forces in the Pacific in 1945, has been marked.

President Xi Jinping led proceedings, as soldiers carried large floral tributes into a Beijing museum while solemn music played at a ceremony attended by top leaders.

The tributes honoured Chinese soldiers who fought against Japan after it invaded China in 1937.

Mr Xi led the applause afterwards as thousands of doves of peace were released.

Japan sparked the latest anger two years ago, when Tokyo occupied a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea.

Right-wing Japanese politicians have since added fuel to the fire with a series of visits to shrines honouring Japanese war criminals and making remarks seen as minimising Japan’s war guilt.

Beijing accuses Japan of renewed militarism and has created three annual commemorations this year aimed at focusing attention on Japan’s wartime aggression and atrocities.

These include a Martyrs’ Day on September 30 and a Nanjing Massacre Victims’ Day on December 13.

“We want to make sure that such aggression will never happen to China and to any other country,” retired diplomat Victor Gao told China Central Television.