Ma: China’s Great Contribution During WWII Was to Tie Down Japanese Troops

 Ma: China’s Great Contribution During WWII Was to Tie Down Japanese Troops

 Sources: All Taipei newspapers

June 4, 2015

President Ma Ying-jeou yesterday participated in a video teleconference, jointly sponsored by the Office of the President of the Republic of China and Stanford University, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the ROC’s victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and expressed gratitude for all the assistance provided by the US during the war. 

President Ma stressed, “Using outdated weapons against massive odds, ROC forces engaged in a ‘war of resistance to the end’ that brooked no surrender, and no compromise. Without outside assistance, ROC forces tied down 800,000 fully-modernized, well-trained invading Japanese troops, which allowed Allied forces to make counterattacks in both the European and Asian theaters at the same time, and ultimately prevail.” Therefore, in his 2014 book “Forgotten Ally: China’s World War Two 1937-1945,” Prof. Rana Mitter of Oxford University wrote that “this was China’s great contribution to the Allied Powers in World War II,” recounted President Ma. 

President Ma noted, “In July 1937, two years before war broke out in Europe, ROC forces began fighting against Japanese aggression alone, and for four long years, they continued with virtually no outside help. It wasn’t until the Pearl Harbor surprise attack in December 1941 that the ROC joined forces with the Allies to declare war against the Axis Powers, Japan, Germany, and Italy.” 

Ma stressed, “The ROC’s Resistance War continued for eight years, making it the longest war against foreign aggression in our history. It involved more citizens than any other conflict, and required the most horrifying sacrifices: with casualties numbering over three million military personnel and 20 million civilians. 268 generals died in action. It also had a more lasting impact than any other war in our history.” 

He went on to say, “The United States proved to be a staunch friend. The most notable example of that friendship was the American Volunteer Group (AVG), organized in 1941 even before the Pearl Harbor surprise attack, a group that became legendary by their nickname: The Flying Tigers.” Ma noted, “In their first year in China, the Flying Tigers shot down nearly 300 Japanese aircraft. Led by Commander Claire Chennault, they thus allowed the ROC’s severely crippled air force to gradually regain its fighting capabilities. So history tells us very clearly and concretely: when the ROC really needed it, the US was always there to extend a helping hand.” 

President Ma told the participants, “This year the ROC government will be holding a series of events to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. And we will be inviting to those events, as honored guests of the government, the family of President Roosevelt’s grandson, granddaughter of General Claire Chennault, the leader of the Flying Tigers, the grandson of General Wedemeyer, Chief of Staff of the China Theater during 1944-46, and the granddaughter of Minnie Vautrin, a missionary who was Acting Dean of the Ginling Girls College and nicknamed “American Goddess at the time of the Rape of Nanking” in 1937. She helped save the lives of ten thousand Chinese citizens, mostly women. We will then have a chance to thank them in person for the tremendous contributions that their forebearers made to the Republic of China and its people.” 

【Editor’s Note: President Franklin D. Roosevelt once told his son, among other things that “If China goes under, how many divisions of Japanese troops will be freed－to do what? To take Australia, to take India…】

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