What Can CCP Write About History of War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression? 

 

Source: United Daily News

 

August 4, 2015

 

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.  The two sides of the Taiwan Strait are fighting a war of words over the historical facts about the War.  According to press reports, Xi Jinping, General-Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), recently proposed that the two sides of the Strait jointly write the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in order to lessen the controversy over the historical record.  Xi also suggested that historians on both sides of the Taiwan Strait use common historical materials to defend the Chinese nation’s dignity.

 

The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression is part of the modern history of the Chinese nation.  If the CCP could admit this fact, it would naturally make sense for the two sides of the Strait to jointly write an authoritative record of the history of the war.  However, the CCP has become accustomed to taking credit for the victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and teaches people on the Mainland that the CCP led the country to fight against the Japanese invaders, while in fact the truth is that it was the KMT which led the ROC Armed Forces to fight the Japanese invaders.

 

The CCP realizes that now that the Mainland has opened up to the outside world, it can no longer pass off its propaganda as historical facts.  On September 3, 2005, when celebrating the 60th anniversary of the victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, then CCP General-Secretary Hu Jintao publicly admitted that the KMT led the ROC Armed Forces to fight against the Japanese invaders on the frontline and the CCP armed forces fought against the Japanese invaders behind enemy lines.  However, Hu Jinato allowed the details of every major battle to remain vague.

 

A historian living in the US pointed out that during the most recent event to commemorate the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Beijing claimed that the CCP led the country to fight against the Japanese invaders during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and failed to mention that the KMT led the ROC Armed Forces to fight against the Japanese invaders on the frontline.

 

Recently, a Mainland historian posted an article on the Internet making several points about the CCP’s contributions during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

 

1) The CCP armed forces, the Eighth Route Army, and the New Fourth Army, adopted the following strategy: “The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue.”  That was the CCP’s contribution behind enemy lines.

 

2) Were there no great Chinese generals who instilled fear in the Japanese, thus making the Chinese nation proud, and who can be written into the history books chronicling the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression?  214 generals lost their lives during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.  Who were they?  Can people who graduate from senior high schools on the Mainland name any of the heroic generals who gave their lives in defending the nation? 

 

3) 129 Japanese generals perished on battlefields in China.  Three of them were killed by the CCP’s Eighth Route Army.  Who killed the other 126 Japanese generals?  The answer is not a national secret, but it cannot be found in the history textbooks used on the Mainland.

 

4) During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, there was a general command headquarters in China.  Where was the headquarters? Who was the Commander-in-chief?  How did the headquarters operate?  How did the headquarters deploy troops?  How did the headquarters coordinate each division, seek international assistance, and issue orders to each war front in China?  Can you find the answers to these questions in our 【Mainland’s】history textbooks?

 

5) For the last six decades, the history textbooks have been changed many times, and many books were published and distributed.  However, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression has been given little attention to details.  We can watch Chinese Civil War dramas and Qing Dynasty dramas on television and in theaters.  However, a drama produced in the Mainland depicting the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression showed Chinese civilians tearing the Japanese invaders apart with their bare hands.

 

Most people who lived through the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression stayed on the Mainland.  We do have some people who can clearly explain the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, but why don’t they come forward?  We are not short of historians, scholars, history experts, education workers, writers, artists, or money.  But we are short of respect and homage for the holy war of the Chinese nation and lack the courage and passion to correctly record the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.  Therefore, the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression has been left incomplete and distorted.

 

The most important thing the CPP should do is to take the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression seriously and respect those who gave their lives to defend the country during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.  Otherwise, there is no need to talk about the two sides of the Strait jointly writing the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression because that will be considered as a trick in a united front strategy.

 

If Xi Jinping really wants to do something to repent for the CCP’s distortions of the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he must denounce Chairman Mao Zedong’s Japanophilic remarks so as to reclaim the dignity of the Chinese nation.

 

On July 10, 1964, Chairman Mao received Japan’s Social Democratic Party leaders, Sasaki Kouzou (佐佐木更三) and Kuroda Hisao (黑田壽男).  Sasaki expressed deep sorrow for Japan’s past aggression against China.  Chairman Mao said that Sasaki need not feel remorse because Japanese militarism had brought huge benefits to China and the CCP could not have taken control of the Mainland without Japanese imperial troops.

 

On September 27, 1972, Chairman Mao received Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka (田中角榮),  and Tanaka also apologized to China for Japan’s past aggression.  Chairman Mao said, “We should thank Japan.  Without Japanese aggression, we would not have cooperated with the KMT and we could not have developed ourselves and finally taken power.”  Mao’s Japanophilic remarks only considered himself and the CCP.  If the CCP does not denounce Mao’s remarks, how dare the CCP commemorate the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression?