Both Sides Should Jointly Write History of War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression

 

Source: China Times

 

July 3, 2014

 

Tsai Yi

 

Director of Research Center of East Asia Integration

 

 

This year marks the 77th anniversary of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.  China was the first of the Allied Powers to fight against the expansionist aggressor, the Empire of Japan, in what became known in the West as WWII.  China’s great contributions to the Allies’ victory against Japan in WWII have been deliberately downplayed because of the standoff between the United States and the former Soviet Union during the Cold War.  This is why reports on the battles in China are rarely reported in the international media.

 

US President Franklin Roosevelt once said that China’s battles against Japanese aggression led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek successfully prevented most Japanese troops from attacking the Soviet Union from the east during Germany’s invasion from the west, and curtailed the deployment of Japanese troops on the Pacific front.  President Roosevelt stated that China had made great contributions to the Allies’ victory against Japan, so he highly commended China’s status among the Allied Powers.

 

During the 60th anniversary of the Victory for the Chinese People in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the Victory over Global Fascism, Hu Jintao, then General-Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), President of the People’s Republic of China, and Chairman of CCP’s Central Military Commission, told the world that the troops led by the KMT and the CCP fought against the Japanese on the frontlines and behind enemy lines, respectively, during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.  Hu added that the KMT and CCP jointly fought against the Japanese troops, and the KMT troops led a series of battles to push back the Japanese aggressors.

 

The history of the cooperation between the KMT and the CPP in fighting against Japanese aggressors should be recorded faithfully.  Both sides of the Strait should shelve differences, face history honestly, and jointly write the history the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.

 

China should be accorded fair and objective reporting by the international media with respect to the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.  Both sides of the Strait should work together to integrate their historical viewpoints about the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, and consider inviting the Discovery Channel and the National Geographic Channel to make a series of films on the China Theatre during WWII.  With global distribution and broadcasting, two networks would enable the world to learn the true history behind the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.