China said Wednesday it would make Sept. 3 a national holiday this year to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The State Council, China's Cabinet, said it in a statement posted on this website that it had set the holiday to "mark the victory of its war against Japan" and allow people to take part in commemoration events.
Diplomatic ties between the two historic foes have been strained since late 2012, following a territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The spat led to large-scale anti-Japan protests across China and boycott of Japanese goods.
Many Japanese executives in China have cited the 70th anniversary as a risk to business this year if it leads to a rise in anti-Japanese sentiment in the world's No. 2 economy. Sales of Japanese goods slumped following the island dispute, with sales of Japanese cars falling around 50 percent in late 2012.
A front-page editorial in the official People's Daily on Sunday praised German leaders for facing up to war crimes committed during the war, saying it stands in contrast to Japan's failure to reflect on its past.
China, which has repeatedly urged Japan to face up to its past, says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in the 1937 Nanking Massacre. A postwar Allied tribunal put the death toll at 142,000.