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Address at the Reception to Commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War
（From Chinese Embassy in The State of Eritrea）
2015/09/09
Qiu Xuejun, Chinese Ambassador to Eritrea
7 September 2015, Salon Keren, Hotel Asmara Palace
Honorable senior officials of Eritrean Government and PFDJ
Distinguished colleagues from diplomatic corps,
Friends, ladies and gentlemen,
Good evening! Welcome to the reception held by the Chinese embassy. Before the beginning of the reception, please allow me to invite all the guests to observe a moment of silence for the martyrs who sacrificed their lives in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist war, for the innocent people who were brutally slaughtered by the invaders and fascists.
Last May, many guests present here and I myself attended a reception by the Russian Embassy to commemorate the victory day of World War II, and the Europe Day reception held by the EU delegation. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist war, many countries have held relevant events to honor the hard-won victory. China also held a series of commemoration activities. The purpose of these activities is to keep in mind the painful history, cherish the hard won peace and create a better future.
On September 3rd , the 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 was held in Beijing and Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the Commemoration. He said, "The Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War were a decisive battle between justice and evil, between light and darkness, and between progress and reaction. In that devastating war, the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression started the earliest and lasted the longest. In defiance of aggression, the unyielding Chinese people fought gallantly and finally won total victory against the Japanese militarist aggressors, thus preserving China's 5,000-year-old civilization and upholding the cause of peace of mankind. This remarkable feat made by the Chinese nation was rare in the history of war. The victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression is the first complete victory won by China in its resistance against foreign aggression in modern times. This great triumph crushed the plot of the Japanese militarists to colonize and enslave China and put an end to China's national humiliation of suffering successive defeats at the hands of foreign aggressors in modern times. This great triumph re-established China as a major country in the world and won the Chinese people respect of all peace-loving people around the world. This great triumph opened up bright prospects for the great renewal of the Chinese nation and set our ancient country on a new journey after gaining rebirth. During the war, with huge national sacrifice, the Chinese people held ground in the main theater in the East of the World Anti-Fascist War, thus making major contribution to its victory. In their war against Japanese aggression, the Chinese people received extensive support from the international community. The Chinese people will always remember what the people of other countries did for the victory of their War of Resistance."
Ladies and gentleman,
China is the main theater in the east of the World Anti-Fascist war. "September 18th Incident" in 1931 opened a prelude to the World Anti-Fascist War, and marked the beginning of the 14-year long heroic history of Chinese people's resistance against the Japanese militarist aggression.When the war in Europe began, China had already fought against the Japanese fascist aggression for 8 years independently; when the Pacific War broke out, China had fought against Japanese aggression for 10 years. China fought against and contained the main forces of the Japanese militarism for a long time,wiped out more than 1.5 million Japanese fascist troops accounting for about 70% of the Japanese force casualties in the second world war.It played a decisive role in the complete destruction of the Japanese aggressors. The Chinese government set September 3rd, the second day after September 2, 1945 when Japan signed the capitulation as the commemoration day of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. September 3rd became China's victory day. The Chinese people made a huge sacrifice and paid a heavy price for this hard-won war. 400 million people were involved directly and indirectly in this war, and the Chinese people suffered 35 million military and civilian casualties in this war. According to the ratio conversion in 1937, China suffered more than 100 billion US dollars direct economic losses, and more than 500 billion US dollars indirect economic losses
Ladies and gentlemen,
History is a mirror of reality, it neither covers the perpetrators' ugly behaviors, nor it hesitates to show the true, the good and the beautiful in the world. The Japanese militarism committed heinous atrocities against the Chinese people. There were too numerous slaughters and massacres to be listed. This reality can not be erased by any white washing or denial. In December 1937, when the Japanese army occupied Nanjing, the Japanese soldiers committed the acts of war crimes of mass murder, rape, arson, robbery, and crimes against humanity, more than 300 thousand Chinese civilians and prisoners of war were killed in the massacre.The international friends extended hands to the Nanjing people in the suffering. On the eve of the Japanese attack on Nanjing, German businessman John Rabe and a dozen foreign missionaries, professors, doctors, businessmen co-sponsored the establishment of Nanjing safety zone, providing temporary shelter for about 250 thousand Chinese civilians. He is also known as "China's Schindler" by the world with great respect , and his "Rabe Diary" has become one of the most powerful evidence of the Nanjing massacre. The Chinese people will never forget John Rabe, never forget the Air Force pilots of the Soviet Union and the United States who fought side by side with the Chinese Air Force, never forget the British soldiers who fought bloody wars side by side with China in the Far East theater, never forget the foreign medical personnel represented by Bethune, Dwarkanath who traveled thousands of miles to China to heal the wounded and rescue the dying, never forget the international friends who offered sympathy and support to the Chinese people.The Japanese people were also the victims of the war. After the end of the war, the Chinese people helped more than one million Japanese immigrants return to their homeland, raising up several thousands Japanese war orphans, demonstrating the broad hearts and minds and boundless love of the Chinese people. These moving deeds were sharply contrasted with the atrocities of the fascists, reflecting the trend of historical development of the victory of justice over evil, light over the dark, progress over the reactionary.
This history is too painful to recall, however only by bravely keeping in mind and facing this history, can we draw a lesson from it, and constantly reminds people of cherishing peace. In order to avoid repeating the tragedy of World War II, China, the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain and other countries engaged themselves in discussions to establish the United Nations, promoting the establishment of the post-war international order, and laying the foundation of international law and system for the maintenance of world peace. The establishment of the United Nations is an epoch-making event in the history of mankind and a milestone in the quest for peace and progress. The world has bid farewell to the history of the war between big powers or between groups of big powers, and entered a relatively stable period of peaceful development. Peace, development and cooperation have become an irresistible trend of the times. But it is undeniable that the world is far from tranquil, local conflicts and hotspot issues keep emerging, some forces are still trying to run against the tide, despise justice, and attempt to reverse the verdict of history of aggression. Thus, we should always remind ourselves to cherish, safeguard world peace, jointly uphold the international order and system underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, build a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation and advance the noble cause of global peace and development, and firmly oppose to all words and deeds of denying and of distorting the history of aggression, firmly safeguard the human conscience and justice so that the sun of peace will be able to shine forever the planet where the mankind lives.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The future is bright, there are no difficulty which the people of the world can not overcome on the road ahead. In this regard, I believe that our Eritrean friends present tonight have deep feelings. The Eritrean people suffered a lot in various wars and engaged in a long armed struggle to achieve national independence. I believe that, the Eritrean people with this glorious revolutionary tradition, will continue making new progresses constantly on the path of nation building. Not long ago, Eritrean athletes have achieved shining performance repeatedly attracting the attention of the people in the world. Last July, Eritrean cyclist Daniel Teklehaimanot recorded a new history by being the first Eritrean and first black African to ride the Tour de France and won the title of "King of Mountains". In August, Nineteen-year-old Eritrean athlete Girmai Gebreslassie won the men's marathon Gold Medal at the IAAF World Championships BEIJING 2015, becoming the youngest champion in the history of marathon race. Please accept our sincerest congratulations to the Eritrean people!
I would also like to recognize a group of special guests from China: The Chinese ophthalmology medical team who came to Eritrea to implement the "China-Africa Brightness Action" in Eritrea, who are now with us at this reception. During their short stay in Eritrea, they have carried out cataract surgical operations for more than 300 patients with success. Last Saturday a ceremony was held at Berhan Aini Hospital for the donation of all the surgical equipment, supporting materials and medicines and other supplies brought with them to the Eritrean Government.They came in the spirit of internationalism and humanitarianism as was shown by Dr. Norman Bethune of Canada and Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis of India, and are the angels of peace and love, demonstrating the friendship of the Chinese people towards the Eritrean people.
Ladies and gentleman, and friends,
The Chinese people are willing to work together with peoples of all countries including Eritrea to promote peace, strengthen unity, and create a bright future of lasting peace and common prosperity for the peoples of the world !
Thank you for attending tonight's reception!
Received on Wed Sep 09 2015 - 13:27:26 EDT