NPC agrees dates to celebrate victory, commemorate tragedy
Print Edition
CHINA’S top legislature yesterday voted to designate two national days to both celebrate the nation’s victory over Japan in World World II and commemorate the victims of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre.
September 3 will be Victory Day of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and December 13 National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims to mourn those killed by the Japanese invaders, and to reveal war crimes committed by the Japanese.
The decision was made at the bi-monthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, which ended yesterday.
Japan invaded China in the 1930s and the two countries fought a full-scale war from 1937 to 1945. The Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was a just war against Japanese invaders and an important part of the World Anti-Fascist War. It was a war of national liberation, the first in modern history in which China won victory over foreign aggressors, the NPC said.
The victory became a historical turning point in the Chinese nation’s march toward rejuvenation and laid an important foundation for the independence and liberation of its people, it said.
After the foundation of the People’s Republic of China, the government named September 3, the day after the Japanese government signed its surrender on September 2, 1945, as victory day.
The decision to set December 13 as Memorial Day was also aimed at remembering the calamities the war caused for the Chinese and people around the world, conveying the Chinese people’s stance of resisting aggression and safeguarding human dignity and world peace.
On December 13, 1937, Japanese aggressors began a campaign of murder against Chinese in Nanjing that lasted more than 40 days, with the “Nanjing Massacre” shocking the world. More than 300,000 people were killed.
“The massacre was one of the most inhuman fascist atrocities in the history of human civilization. There is irrefutable evidence for the flagrant violation of international laws. Historical conclusions and legal verdicts have been made about the massacre,” the NPC decision said.
The country will hold national memorial activities on September 3 and December 13 every year, it said.
Setting the two days through legislative procedures reflected the will of the people, said Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee.
One of the purposes of holding memorial activities is to keep firmly in mind the significance of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and its important contribution to the World Anti-Fascist War, he said.
People around the world should be cautious about Japan’s history of militarist aggression and safeguard WWII victory and the post-war international order, Zhang said.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the approval of the national days has great significance and is a necessity in the current circumstances.
“We urge Japanese leaders to reflect on Japan’s history of aggression with a responsible attitude toward facts, the people and future, to correct their mistakes and change course,” she said.
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