TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsHonoring history, cherishing peace and creating a brighter future for humanity
History serves both as the best textbook and dose of sobriety.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
President Prabowo Subianto (left front row) stands next to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President China Xi Jinping during a military parade on Sept. 3 at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. (Antara/Press Bureau of Presidential Secretariat )
O
n Sept. 3, 26 foreign heads of state and government, as well as heads of international organizations gathered in Beijing to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the Victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Prabowo Subianto and other leaders attended the grand gathering and military parade at Tiananmen Square.
It is a day to be remembered. 80 years ago, the Chinese people, together with peoples around the world, defeated fascism and achieved complete victory in the battle of justice versus evil, brightness versus darkness and progress versus reaction. The Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression is a significant part of the World Anti-Fascism War.
Under the united front against Japanese aggression advocated by the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people endured bloodshed and fire for 14 years, and suffered over 35 million military and civilian casualties, more than any other countries in the world. With such huge sacrifice, the Chinese people held their ground against the main forces of Japanese militarism in the primary Eastern theater of the World Anti-Fascist War. This was a great assistance to the Allied forces in the European and Pacific battlefields, and a major contribution to the salvation of human civilization and the defense of world peace and justice.
We shall never forget that the War of Resistance was supported by anti-fascist allies including the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, etc. Many friends from around the world braved numerous hardships to a war-torn China to help the Chinese people. Some even sacrificed their lives.
We shall also never forget the overseas Chinese who shared weal and woe with the motherland. In particular, the Chinese community of Indonesia generously donated money and supplies, giving all they had for the nation. Many joined the resistance and laid down their lives on the battlefield. The victory belonged to the Chinese people, and also to people across the world who cherish peace and justice.
It is a day that calls for vigilance. History serves both as the best textbook and dose of sobriety. The purpose of our commemoration is not to perpetuate hatred, but to bear history in mind and draw lessons so as to dispel the gloom of war. It is not to dwell on the past, but to create a better future and pass the torch of peace from one generation to another.
The world is undergoing accelerated changes unseen in a century, with transformation and turbulence in the international landscape and raging unilateralism and hegemonism. It is regrettable that Japan repeatedly denies or even whitewashes its crime of aggression, shirks its responsibility for the war. This is a mockery of history and an insult to human conscience. Such attempts have inevitably aroused the vigilance and strong condemnation of the Chinese people and all peace-loving people around the world.
