CARRY FORWARD THE SPIRIT OF THE WAR OF RESISTANCE AGAINST JAPANESE AGGRESSION

CARRY FORWARD THE SPIRIT OF THE WAR OF RESISTANCE AGAINST JAPANESE AGGRESSION*

September 3, 2020

In more than 5,000 years of uninterrupted civilization, we, the Chinese people, have demonstrated extraordinary creativity and made an indelible contribution to human progress. After 1840, however, the Western powers’ invasion of China and the decadence of China’s feudal rule plunged the country into turmoil and humiliation and its people into misery and despair. 

Repeated aggressions committed by Japan were the darkest page in China’s modern history. In 1894, Japan started the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. In 1895, Japan occupied Taiwan and the Penghu Islands. In 1900, Japan, in collusion with other imperialist powers, invaded Beijing. In 1904, Japan launched the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), encroaching on China’s northeastern territory, and infringing China’s sovereignty over this region. In 1914, Japan occupied Qingdao. In 1915, Japan raised the Twenty-one Demands, an attempt to further subjugate China. In 1931, Japan contrived the September 18th Incident and occupied the entire northeast China. In 1935, Japan provoked the North China Incident to make further inroads in this region. In 1937, Japan launched an all-out aggression against China, which was marked by the bombardment of the town of Wanping and the assault on Lugou Bridge in Beijing’s southwestern suburbs, historically known as the July 7th Incident. This was an attempt to colonize China, annex Asia, and ultimately dominate the world. This brutal aggression by Japanese militarists wreaked havoc on China and inflicted untold sufferings on its people. The Chinese people fought with indomitable spirit against the aggression.

Following the September 18th Incident, the Chinese people put up a fierce fight against the Japanese invaders in northeast China. This marked the beginning of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the Global War Against Fascism. 

After the July 7th Incident, all political parties, people of all ethnic groups, classes, sectors, and social groups in China, and all overseas Chinese united in will and action to resist Japanese aggression and save the Chinese nation from subjugation. This galvanized the whole Chinese nation in all-out resistance, making China a major Eastern theater in the Global War Against Fascism.

Throughout arduous and bitter battles against Japanese aggression, all the Chinese fought dauntlessly for the survival of the country, for the revival of the nation, and for human justice. The war witnessed the broadest mobilization of the Chinese people, the most profound awakening of the Chinese nation, and the engagement of the people’s strongest willpower and resolve to fight and win. This was unprecedented in China’s history. In this war emerged countless national heroes, including commanding officers who gave their lives, such as Yang Jingyu, Zhao Shangzhi, Zuo Quan, Peng Xuefeng, Tong Linge, Zhao Dengyu, Zhang Zizhong, and Dai Anlan; the Five Heroes on the Langya Mountain who were under the CPC-led Eighth Route Army; the Liulaozhuang Company under the CPC-led New Fourth Army; the Eight Heroines under the CPC-led Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army; and the Eight Hundred Heroes under the Kuomintang Army.

The Chinese people fought the ferocious enemy with an iron will, defending the country with their flesh and blood, and fighting and sacrificing their lives for the nation – as one fell another stepped into the breach. Their struggle and sacrifice have gone down as a stirring epic in China’s history.

Our great victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression thwarted the Japanese militarists’ plan to colonize China and enslave the Chinese people. It safeguarded China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and restored China’s dignity after repeated defeats at the hands of foreign aggressors. 

Our great victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression reestablished China’s international position as a major country, won respect for the Chinese people from all peace-loving peoples around the world, and restored the esteem of the Chinese nation. 

Our great victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression endowed the Chinese nation with indomitable will in pursuit of independence, freedom and liberation, and opened a new chapter in which China would rise like a phoenix from the ashes. 

– Winning this war marked a great victory for the unmatched patriotism of the Chinese nation. Patriotism is the core of our national ethos, inspiring the Chinese people and nation to fight and forge ahead with one heart and one mind. Faced with this national crisis, Chinese men and women, young and old, engaged in heroic resistance in full solidarity against the aggressors, creating an epic of patriotism. Patriotism is the source of great strength to the Chinese people in safeguarding national independence and dignity and standing upright in the face of adversity. Patriotism is a powerful engine propelling the Chinese nation forward like a giant ship. Patriotism is a banner rallying the Chinese people and nation to conquer all difficulties and remove all obstacles on the road of advance. 

– Winning the war marked a great victory for the CPC as the pillar of the Chinese nation. Since its founding in 1921, the CPC had shouldered the historic mission of China’s rejuvenation, and safeguarded its independence, protected its interests, and resisted foreign aggression with the firmest resolve and courage. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, at a time when the nation’s survival was at stake, the CPC exercised outstanding political leadership, devised effective strategies and tactics, and steered the course of China’s resistance. It rallied the nation, championed unity and progress, and fought against compromise, division and retreat. Holding high the banner of a national united front against Japanese aggression, the CPC resolutely developed, consolidated and safeguarded the united front. It joined in the united war effort while maintaining its own course of action. Chinese Communists were the pillar of the whole nation during the war, fighting bravely at the forefront and keeping alive the hope of national survival. 

– Winning the war marked a great victory for all Chinese fighting as one against foreign aggression. Adhering to its policy of mobilizing and relying on the people, the CPC helped create an irresistible force of national resistance. At the beginning of the war, Mao Zedong explicitly stated, “We stand for a national revolutionary war in the full sense, a war in which the entire people are mobilized, in other words, total resistance. For only such resistance constitutes a people’s war and can achieve the goal of defending the motherland.” Convinced that the concerted efforts of both the army and the people were the foundations of victory, the CPC formulated and implemented the overall strategy of protracted war and a complete set of strategies and tactics for a people’s war. The military and the civilians in the base areas in enemy-occupied territory conducted a guerilla war, employing ambushes, sabotage, landmines, tunnels, and “sparrow warfare”, and drowning the Japanese aggressors in a vast sea of the people’s war. The CPC conducted the war in enemy-occupied territory, while the Kuomintang engaged the Japanese in open battle, forging a strategic cooperation to resist Japanese aggression. China’s victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was the result of the concerted and unremitting efforts of the Chinese  people, who fought as one in the spirit of the weak defeating the strong and demonstrated the matchless strength of the Chinese nation. 

– Winning the war marked a great victory for the Chinese people in fighting side by side with anti-fascist allies and their peoples. We Chinese will never forget the invaluable assistance and support given to us by all anti-fascist forces across the world, including the countries, peoples, and international organizations on the side of peace and justice. The Soviet Union provided strong material support to China. The Flying Tigers from the United States carried out airlift missions over the Hump despite great risks. A large number of anti-fascist fighters from Korea, VietNam, Canada, India, New Zealand, Poland, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, and even Japan, threw themselves into China’s war against Japanese aggression. Canadian doctor Henry Norman Bethune and Indian doctor Dwarkanath Shantaram Kotnis came all the way to China to work on the front line. French doctor Jean Jerome Augustin Bussiere opened up a “Hump route by bike” to transport medicines. German businessman John Rabe and Bernhard Arp Sindberg from Denmark rescued many Chinese refugees during the Nanjing Massacre in 1937. British engineer Michael Francis Morris Lindsay and Polish journalist Hans Shippe as well as many other journalists extensively covered China’s heroic resistance. We Chinese will always remember their dedication and moving deeds.

The Chinese people created an awe-inspiring spirit during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, demonstrating a strong sense of commitment to national survival, the courage to sacrifice themselves unflinchingly, sublime heroism in fighting to the last drop of their blood against brutal aggression, and an unshakable faith in securing victory in the face of repeated setbacks. This spirit, the great spirit of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, is an invaluable legacy of the Chinese nation. It will inspire all of us Chinese to strive for national rejuvenation against all odds. 

China and Japan are close neighbors. Maintaining lasting peace and friendship between the two countries is in the best interests of the two peoples and crucial to safeguarding peace and stability in Asia and beyond. Throughout the 2,000-year history of Sino-Japanese relations, peace and friendship have been the underlying trend. China-Japan friendship today has not come easily. Therefore, we should handle China-Japan relations from both a historical and a global perspective. We should advance bilateral relations along the right track of win-win cooperation on the basis of mutual respect and seeking common ground while reserving differences. 

Japan, on its part, should face up to and deplore its history of militarism and aggression. This is an important political foundation for establishing and developing China-Japan relations. The atrocities of aggression, massacre, plunder and destruction committed by Japan’s militarists inflicted untold sufferings on the Chinese and other Asian peoples. Facts are undeniable; history is inerasable. Any denial of Japan’s past of aggression or attempt to put a gloss on its war of aggression and colonial rule will provoke the strongest indignation and condemnation and require heightened vigilance in China and other Asian countries. 

History, if not forgotten, can serve as a guide for the future. As we commemorate the Chinese people’s victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the Global War Against Fascism, and condemn the atrocities of the aggressors, we want everyone to remember the lessons drawn from the past. We do not want to perpetuate hatred; rather, we want to keep people’s faith in peace and continue the pursuit of peace. We should take history as a mirror to guide the future. China and Japan should cherish and preserve peace together. The peoples of the two countries should live in friendship from generation to generation. This will contribute to enduring peace and stability in the wider world.

* Part of the speech at a meeting to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the Global War Against Fascism.

(Not to be republished for any commercial or other purposes.)