By Wu Jihai and Fu Shuangqi
TAIPEI, July 8 -- The Lugou Bridge Incident on July 7, 1937, is recognized as the start of Japan's full-scale invasion of China, and China's whole-of-nation resistance against it. Tuesday marks the 83rd anniversary of the Lugou Bridge Incident, also known as the July 7 incident. In commemoration of this important day, many groups in Taiwan called on the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to draw lessons from history and to unite to promote peaceful reunification. Only in this way can we live up to the sacrifices of the sages and martyrs involved in the war against Japanese aggression.
Several groups in Taiwan including the Association for the Advancement of Taiwan Anti-Japanese Volunteers’ Relatives, Straits Review Monthly magazine, and the Taiwan History Education 'Three Self' Movement Association, jointly commemorated the 83rd anniversary for the July 7 incident in Taipei on July 7, 2020, with a total of over 100 people involved, including the descendants of Taiwan anti-Japanese volunteers, experts, and scholars.
Xiao Kaiping, chairman of the Association for the Advancement of Taiwan Anti-Japanese Volunteers’ Relatives, said in a speech that Tuesday marks the 83rd anniversary of the outbreak of China's whole-of-nation resistance against Japanese aggression and this year also marks the 125th anniversary of the outbreak of Taiwan’s anti-Japanese war. Since Taiwan was occupied by Japan in 1895, the people of Taiwan began to resist the Japanese ruling. After the Lugou Bridge Incident on July 7, 1937, countless Taiwan compatriots, including Mr. Xiao’s father, went to the Chinese mainland to participate in China's whole-of-nation resistance against Japanese aggression, for which all the Chinese people made tremendous sacrifices.
Looking to the future, Mr. Xiao hoped that both sides of the Taiwan Strait would adhere to the 1992 Consensus to realize peaceful national reunification at an early date.
Ma Ying-jeou, former chairman of Taiwan’s main opposition party Kuomintang (KMT), said in a speech that the Lugou Bridge Incident broke out on the same day 83 years ago, the Chinese people finally won after eight years of fight. Since Taiwan was ceded to Japan in 1895, the people of Taiwan began to resist the colonial ruling by Japan. After the Lugou Bridge Incident, the people of Taiwan also joined China's whole-of-nation resistance against Japanese aggression, leaving a touching history of epic.
Wu Quen-tsai, a professor at the National Chiayi University in Taiwan, and Yang Kai-huang, a professor at Taipei's Ming Chuan University, delivered speeches on topics of "retrieving Chinese history education" and "dissolving Taiwan's anxiety with the 1992 Consensus".
At the meeting for 83rd anniversary of China's whole-of-nation resistance against Japanese Aggression held by Alliance for the Reunification of China in Taipei on July 6, chairwoman Chi Hsing stated that in 1937, Japan conspired the Lugou Bridge Incident, and the entire Chinese people got united in resistance against Japan and eventually won the war and reclaimed Taiwan. While eighty-three years later, some political forces in Taiwan have ignored the fact that both sides across the Taiwan Strait belong to one China, indicating that they have not been inspired by the history of China's whole-of-nation resistance ever. The Alliance for the Reunification of China hence solemnly appealed people across the Strait to get united and target the outside aggression, only in this way, can the peaceful reunification of China be achieved, and can the sacrifices of the sages and martyrs involved in the war against Japanese aggression be worthwhile.
