By Cheng Yonghua

Eighty years ago, the World Anti-Fascist War that determined the future and destiny of mankind achieved ultimate victory. The Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression opened the main Eastern theatre of the World Anti-Fascist War. It lasted the longest, inflicted the heaviest losses, and made an indelible contribution to the triumph of justice over evil and light over darkness, as well as to world peace. Today, at a time of profound changes in the international landscape, looking back on the smoke and flames of eighty years ago carries added significance for us to clarify misinformation, to draw lessons from history, to cherish hard-won peace, and to chart a course for future development.

First, the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was the eastern pillar of the World Anti-Fascist War. It was not an isolated national war of self-defense but an indispensable part of the World Anti-Fascist War. From the September 18 Incident in 1931, the Chinese people opened the prelude to the World Anti-Fascist War, and built a great wall of steel with their flesh and blood to resist the aggression of Japanese militarism. During fourteen years of grueling war, the Chinese theater pinned down the overwhelming majority of Japan's ground forces. At the cost of more than 35 million military and civilian casualties, the Chinese people checked the advance of Japanese fascism, powerfully supported anti-fascist forces worldwide, and created invaluable strategic opportunities for Allied counteroffensives in Europe theater and the Pacific theater.

Second, China played an active role in building the post-war international order. The victory of the War meant more than the defeat of aggression. It laid the foundation for a lasting peace with the United Nations at its core. As a major member of the world anti-fascist alliance, China took part in drafting the Declaration by the United Nations, the Cairo Declaration, and the Potsdam Proclamation. It became a founding member of the United Nations and a permanent member of the Security Council, playing a vital role in building the new order. A key element of that order was the comprehensive transformation of Japanese militarism through international legal instruments and institutional arrangements to restrain any path back to remilitarization and ensure that Japan follows a course of peaceful development.

The 1943 Cairo Declaration explicitly demands that all the territories Japan has stolen from China, such as Manchuria, Taiwan, and the Penghu Islands (Pescadores), should be restored to Chinese sovereignty. The 1945 Potsdam Proclamation further stipulates that the "terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out." These international legal instruments set out the principles Japan was obliged to follow and became a cornerstone of the post-war international order. China has remained a firm defender and active participant in that order.

Third, we should champion a correct historical perspective and work together to promote peace and development. It is worth noting that the evolution of the post-war international order sowed the seeds for the rise of historical revisionism in Japan. Since the 1980s and 1990s in particular, revisionist trends denying or even glorifying aggression have re-emerged in Japan, with words and deeds that repeatedly challenge international justice, provoke the peoples of victimized Asian countries, and increasingly constitute a grave negative factor undermining regional peace and stability. What is more alarming is that this regressive current is no longer confined to a handful of right-wing politicians, but is gradually exerting influence at the policy level, driving attempts to challenge the peace framework established after WWII.

At present, the international landscape is undergoing a profound change, and China-Japan relations once again stand at a crossroads of improvement and development. The constant tolling of history's alarm bell reminds us that the bottom line of peace must be firmly upheld and that the tragedies of the past must never be repeated. We must not allow the countercurrent of historical revisionism to provoke the peoples of China and other Asian victimized countries, trample on historical justice and human conscience, or, worse still, to collude with geopolitical calculations inside and outside the region to subvert the post-war international order centered on the United Nations and to push the region back into the abyss of bloc confrontation and military conflict.

Safeguarding historical truth and upholding international fairness and justice constitute the only path toward lasting peace and shared prosperity in the region and the wider world, and will play an important and positive role in advancing the great cause of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

(The author is a former Chinese ambassador to Japan.)

Editor's Note: Originally published on huanqiu.com, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.