Sixty years on from the surrender of Japanese invaders, the nightmare of cruelty and devastation they inflicted on China still lingers. China fought Japan from September 18, 1931 to August 15, 1945. This 14-year-long war caused 35 million casualties - one-tenth of the then Chinese population - and material losses of US $600 billion. As the main Eastern battlefield of World War II, China's losses were the heaviest of all countries in the region. Atrocities inflicted on the Chinese people by the Japanese Fascists were no less shocking than those suffered by Jews at the hands of the Nazis.

To the Japanese invaders, China was an old, ailing nation that could be conquered within three months. But the Chinese people evinced indomitable tenacity and strength in the face of national disaster. Li Zongren, the Kuomintang general who led his valiant troops against the Japanese invasion, recalled, "Grieving soldiers went to battle to protect their home and country from this powerful enemy. Their overwhelming heroism is unequalled in Chinese history." The Communist Party of China took the initiative in forming a national united front and eventually defeating the invaders.

China received generous assistance from the international community during the war and did its best to aid neighboring countries. In order to assist allied forces fighting in Southeast Asia, it sent 100,000 troops to Burma. Xue Wentao, veteran of the China Expedition Corps, recalled: "We fought so valiantly that General Joseph Warren Stilwell issued an order forbidding anyone from going to the front unless authorized."

The Japanese troops suffered 1.5 million casualties during their 14 years in the Chinese theater -- 70 percent of their total casualties throughout the entire war. Because of China's decisive contribution to the allied victory of World War II, it stood alongside the USA, Britain, and USSR as the four most powerful allies, and was a founder member of the League of Nations, forerunner to the UN.

China's victory over the Japanese invaders is a manifestation of the power of civilization over brutality, construction over destruction and life over death. Younger generations can only learn about the war through books, and it is their vital responsibility to know what happened in the war and maintain its truth. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder holds that remembering the era of National Socialism and its crimes is Germany's moral obligation. He says, "We must stand firmly against any attempt to balance the crimes of war against the misery it inflicted on the German people; or to allow the issue of war criminals to be superseded by that of their victims; or to make Nazi crimes appear relative." This is the attitude that Japan, which has yet to practice self-examination, or self-criticism for its war crimes, should emulate.

All should learn from the bitter lessons of war and work to create a life of peace, freedom, justice and dignity.

Editor: Wing