By Stephen Asante
Accra, Sept. 1, GNA – Mr Yuan Sha, the Deputy Director, Department for Global Governance under the China Institute of International Studies, has lauded the Chinese people for their sacrifices in the World Anti-Fascist War.
“As this year marks the 80th Anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, China’s pivotal role on the Eastern front demands renewed recognition,” he noted.
Mr Yuan, in a document copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said the Asian economic giant’s “wartime sacrifices are not merely a national epic but endure as a linchpin of the world anti-fascist history and the postwar order”.
The document traces the September 18 Incident of 1931, marking the inception of both Japan’s imperial expansion and China’s solitary defiance, a prelude to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, which started the Pacific War in 1941.
Titled: “China’s Indelible Contributions to the World Anti-Fascist War”, the document acknowledged that, undeterred by a stronger enemy, the Chinese people rose up with extraordinary courage to defend their homeland and uphold national dignity.
It draws attention to the need to learn from this important period of history in order to meet the contemporary new and complex challenges to ensure people of all countries enjoyed lasting peace and prosperity.
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement that rose to prominence in early-20th-century Europe.
It promotes the idea of a forcibly monolithic, regimented nation under the control of an autocratic ruler.
Among all the Allied nations, China engaged in the anti-fascist war for the longest duration and endured the heaviest sacrifices, according to the Chinese Society for the Study of the History of World War II.
It is estimated that from 1931 to 1945, Chinese military and civilian forces fought in nearly 200,000 battles of varying scale, including some 200 major campaigns.
Some 35 million Chinese military personnel and civilians were reportedly killed or wounded in those campaigns, while decimating more than 1.5 million Japanese aggressors.
“Today, as we honour the success of the global war against fascism and pivotal contributions China made during WWII, we do not seek to perpetuate hatred, but pay tribute to sacrifices and the pursuance of peace through remembrance.
“With heroic resistance of the Chinese military and people, as well as following the right strategies such as Comrade Mao Zedong’s On Protracted War, China served as the mainstay in tying down the bulk of the Japanese aggressors,” the document noted.
According to war analysts, by 1941, China had already endured a decade of attrition warfare, eroding Japanese morale, disrupting Japanese military logistics and diverting its forces from Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
On China’s role in reshaping the trajectory of the War, Mr Yuan pointed out that the Soviet Union (USSR) was able to repel Nazi Germany without a two-front war in the Battle of Stalingrad, owing part of its success to China’s relentless resistance in the Eastern theater.
“The Doolittle Raid of 1942 was launched from Chinese bases, boosting US’ morale after the Pearl Harbour attack by Japanese troops,” he said.
“These and other stories demonstrated that without China’s main Eastern battlefield, fascism’s collapse might have been delayed, if not derailed.”
The Deputy Director said 80 years on, China’s 14-year War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression had remodeled the psyche of the people, “by forging the willpower to resist foreign aggression and strive for national rejuvenation”.
China had been an ardent champion of decolonisation, multilateralism and cooperation, for the ultimate goal of building a community with a shared future for humanity, he noted.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe