By Zou Haodan

September 18 is a day that no Chinese person should ever forget.

On the evening of September 18, 1931, the Japanese Kwantung Army deliberately blew up a section of the South Manchuria Railway near Liutiaohu in the northern suburbs of Shenyang, falsely accused Chinese troops of carrying out the sabotage, and used it as a pretext to launch a surprise attack on the Beidaying Barracks in Shenyang, thus staging the September 18 Incident that shocked China and the world. The incident marked the beginning of the Chinese people's arduous 14-year struggle, which ultimately culminated in the great victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and also marked the complete victory in the World Anti-Fascist War.

The September 18 Incident marked not only a critical juncture in Japan's path toward large-scale aggression and expansion, but also the point at which it began accelerating toward its eventual defeat. Yet to this day, Japanese society remains deeply confused in its understanding of this period of history. Progressive voices urging the country to face up to its history of aggression have grown increasingly faint, while rhetoric denying and whitewashing that history has become ever more strident. When discussing the September 18 Incident, Japan's postwar ruling establishment has often portrayed it as a "plot" by the Kwantung Army, deliberately downplaying its nature as an act of aggression, seeking to sever the link between individual and state responsibility for the war, and evading the fundamental question of why Japan embarked on a war of aggression.

The so-called Liutiaohu Incident staged by the Kwantung Army was merely a pretext for launching the September 18 Incident. The questions demanding deeper reflection are these: What strategic choices did Japan make thereafter? Why did Japan's decision-makers fail to stop the Kwantung Army's "rogue actions" in time and instead provide logistical, military and diplomatic support for its operations, steadily expand those operations, and ultimately choose to launch a full-scale war of aggression?

Japan has had more than 80 years since the end of World War II to answer this question, yet even today it has not truly and thoroughly reflected on its wartime system or responsibility for the war. The reason lies in the fact that the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, which has governed Japan for most of the postwar period, has acknowledged responsibility for the war of aggression only superficially. As a result, wrongful acts such as repudiating the Tokyo Trials, obscuring responsibility for aggression, tampering with history textbooks and paying homage at the Yasukuni war shrine have recurred time and again.

In recent years, Japan's right-wing forces have grown increasingly brazen and continued to promote "neo-militarism". Cloaked in the rhetoric of "peace" and "defense," they have strengthened the role of military power in Japan's national strategy and embedded military and security issues in its diplomacy, economy and even social life. They have sought to shed Japan's status as the aggressor and defeated country in World War II and turn it into a military power capable of using force abroad and even waging war. Since Sanae Takaichi took office, this process has accelerated across the board. Japan has gone to great lengths to break free from the constraints of its pacifist Constitution and exclusively defense-oriented policy, has repeatedly challenged the postwar international order, and now poses a grave and real threat to regional and international peace and stability.

Today, history once again confronts Japan with a stark question: Does it intend to return to the evil path of aggression and expansion?

As a country responsible for war crimes, Japan inflicted immense suffering on the people of other countries and itself suffered the consequences of the war it unleashed. This is a profound lesson history has left Japan. Only by facing up to the truth of the September 18 Incident at the highest level of its national decision-making system and deeply reflecting on its own political responsibility, can Japan hope to end its reckless actions and avoid once again becoming a perpetrator of war.

Ninety-five years have passed since the September 18 Incident, but its most important lesson for Japan remains unchanged: Only by fully recognizing and reflecting on its history of aggression and its responsibility for the war can Japan truly prevent such a tragedy from recurring. If Japan refuses to reflect on history and continues racing down the evil path of "neo-militarism," it is bound to fall into the same old abyss.

(The author is an associate research fellow at the Institute of Japanese Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)