Photography by the Mission of the PRC to the EU – Brussels.
By Ambassador Yang Yanyi, PRC Head of Mission to the EU.
In commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
September 3 marks the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
The Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War seven decades ago was a life-and-death contest in human history of justice versus evil and brightness against darkness. In the wake of the war of aggression launched by German, Italian and Japanese fascist forces and its unprecedented havoc to human civilization, the Chinese people and other peace-loving forces in the world rose in united resistance and, after years of bloody battles, won eventually the great victory of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
That victory was a glorious epic in the cause of peace and justice and left us valuable inspiration of history. The very purpose that we commemorate the 70th anniversary of the victory of the war is to bear in mind the history and open up the future.
To do so, we must adhere to a correct outlook of history. The road to the future starts with lessons from the past. An important prerequisite to prevent the recurrence of the tragedy is for countries that committed the crime of aggression to repent thoroughly and profoundly and break with the history of brutal aggression.
The international community, major countries with significant responsibility for world peace in particular, should take a clear-cut stand not tolerating the erroneous outlook of history.
Over the past seventy years, amidst efforts by the international community to reflect on the root-cause of the war and explore ways to prevent war and bring about lasting peace, Germany has taken actions, in a correct historical perspective, to wash away the crime of war and prevent, by legislative means, the resurrection of the ghost of war.
In sharp contrast, Japan has never thoroughly broken away with the past of aggression. Certain obstinate forces in the country even openly challenge human conscience by distorting and denying the history and attempting to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution.
Unfortunately, they are connived to a certain degree by some in the world. The past, if not forgotten, serves as a guide for the future. How can regional and world peace sustain without rooting out the ghost of war? To bring about sustainable peace, the international community should unswervingly stick to a correct outlook on the history of the World War II and staunchly oppose any attempts to distort facts and turn back the wheel of history.
To bear in mind the history and open up the future, we must stick to the path of peaceful development. The world we live in crackles with profound, complex as well as dynamic changes. In face of such changes, China pursues a policy of peace, development and cooperation.
We adhere to the path of peaceful development, i.e., we strive for a peaceful international environment for our own development which, in turn, safeguards and promotes world peace and common development.
However, whether or not China succeeds down the road of peaceful development and whether or not world peace and development sustains do not depend on China alone. It takes joint efforts by the entire international community. There is no denial that even as we live in the 21st century, some people and some forces choose to stay in the old days of colonial expansion and in an outdated Cold War mentality.
They interpret, willingly or non-willingly, the profound changes in the world today as a zero-sum game in the western theory on the rise and fall of powers. At the same time, hegemonism, power politics and neo-interventionism are still asserting themselves.
All this, without doubt, poses a root for international tension and regional instability. History is the best textbook that blows cobwebs in the mind. Sustaining world peace requires all countries to follow the path of peaceful development as this is the wise choice that conforms to the trend of the times and the law of history.
To bear in mind the history and open up the future, we must hold high the banner of international justice. History finds familiar faces. In the past, in an attempt to conquer China and Asia, Japanese militarists launched the war of aggression in defiance of international justice by fabricating shameless lies and tried to blur the lines and cover up their act of aggression under the disguise of the so-called Greater East Asia Co-prosperity.
Today, some politicians and right-wing forces in Japan, resorting to the same old tricks, stand facts on their heads and shift the blame to others. They purposefully blur the nature of war between aggression and resistance and try to depict Japan the victimizer as a victim of the war. They fabricate the so-called China Threat, and flare up tension and confrontation, only to create an excuse to break Japan’s pacifist constitution, pass the security bills and lift bans on exercising the right of collective self-defense.
On matters bearing on international justice, the international community must explicitly oppose these negative acts of Japan. One must not forget that the policy of appeasement by some countries was an important reason for Japan to launch and expand the war of aggression against China seven decades ago.
Today, all countries need to bear in mind the lessons of history and do nothing to rear a tiger only to invite disaster for themselves and others.
To bear in mind the history and open up the future, we must uphold the victory outcomes of WWII and the post-war international order. Houses wobble on a shaky foundation.
The outcomes of the victory of WWII and the post-war international order underlie lasting peace in Asia and the world at large. The international instruments signed by the U.S., UK, China and the USSR on the eve of the end of WWII, i.e., the Declaration of United Nations, the Declaration on General Security, Cairo Declaration and Potsdam Proclamation, indubitably concluded that the war against China and the Pacific War launched by Japan were wars of aggression.
The invasion and looting of Chinese territories by Japan are facts of modern history that brook no denial. These international instruments provide the very legal basis and obligation under which all sacred territories Japan stole from China, i.e., Northeast China, Taiwan and Penghu Islands, be returned to China.
These are the purposes and principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter that should be observed in the post-war international order, as well as the role and mission of the United Nations to preserve the existing international order. The perverse acts by Japan are, in essence, designed to undermine and reverse the outcomes of WWII and the post-war international order.
The crux and the nature of the contest among parties concerned is whether these outcomes and the existing world order should be preserved or rejected. As a founding nation of the post-war international order, China has both the right and obligation to uphold, together with the rest of the international community, the outcomes of the war and consolidate the post-war order.
Likewise, other signatories of the Cairo Declaration, Potsdam Proclamation and the United Nations Charter should stand on the right side of history and honour their responsibilities and obligations. They should uphold justice and staunchly preserve the outcomes of WWII and post-war world order by saying unequivocally No to any attempts to turn back the wheel of history. They should join efforts in safeguarding security in Asia and the Pacific and world peace and in promoting common development and prosperity.
