Neither the Kuomintang nor the Communists won the Sino-Japanese War, the US did
Washington (AsiaNews) – An old Chinese saying advises people to avoid controversy. Yet there are big controversies that we should not avoid. Recently there were commemorations for the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II (the war of resistance against the Japanese invasion).
Disputes have broken out regarding who were the main forces resisting the Japanese invasion back then. The disputes have brought out excessive words, and are getting out of boundaries and control. A commemoration of peace has turned into hate. This outcome can be called "the extremes have brought the opposite".
There were so-called "Regiment of the Liu Old Village" and "Square Team of the Langya Five Heroes" during Xi Jinping's big military parade in Beijing. These groups gave people an impression that they were all the Communist Party had to resist the invasion of millions of Japanese soldiers. That impression is too shabby and indeed reflects what the KMT has said: the Communist Party hid behind the enemy lines, not for the purpose of resisting the Japanese invasion, but for developing their strength.
Across the Taiwan Straits, what these helped Kuomintang said was not very fair either. It said that the Communist Party then did not try to resist the Japanese army, but was only developing its own strength, waiting for an opportunity, and finally was able to chase the Kuomintang army to Taiwan. Is it true that these peasants the Communists recruited were born to fight? Was that really as simple as what we read from children's books to chase the KMT army to Taiwan?
Recently, a new argument has arisen. It asks both sides not to argue anymore. It says that neither the KMT nor the Communist Party in China were the main forces to resist the Japanese invasion, but the Americans. The Americans were the main force resisting the Japanese invasion and bear all the credit. This sounds like a tune from Hollywood. Of course, it is understandable that everyone likes to praise oneself. But Hollywood would not have said that the allies were no good and useless, or that all the credit belongs to the Americans.
So here is the difference, when we the Chinese people are not better than the other people. Indeed, the Americans really were the main force against the Japanese. They not only wiped out most of the invading Japanese army, but also provided assistance so China and the Soviet Union could continue. Even now there are still some Germans complaining that the Japanese should not have attacked Pearl Harbor, which provoked the Americans enter World War II. They said that Japan had the best soldiers yet the most mindless commanders, without much improvement over time.
There has been a claim that was not quite proven, saying that President Roosevelt received the intelligence of the attack on Pearl Harbor but left it on his desk for 3 days without any action, thus allowing the Japanese attack to be successful and infuriate the American people to join the war. That delay resulted in a change of the world structure and expanded the camp of democracies. If that claim is true, then indeed President Roosevelt deserves best credit for the most successful action in the world history.
The conspiracy of Stalin also confirmed Roosevelt's greatness. From the beginning of the Chinese resistance against the Japanese War in 1932, Joseph Stalin instigated his minions in China to provoke the Japanese attack southwards towards China instead of northwards into the USSR, in the excuse of defending the Soviets -- to avoid the Japanese cooperating with the Germans to attack the Soviet Union from both sides. This provocation is the really ugly side of the Chinese Communist Party. However, the Kuomintang has now fallen so low that it would not even dare to talk about it.
Fortunately, the conspiracies of both Stalin and Roosevelt were successful, and made this world a better place. Let us imagine if their conspiracies failed, and if the Japanese were not stupid enough and really attacked the Soviet Union in accordance of their agreement with Germany, then Stalin could not mobilize millions of troops in Siberia. Then the turning point of World War II, the Battle of Stalingrad, would not be won, and the battlefields of Europe may have fallen. Without the victory of the Pacific War, we would have lost the battlefield in China for sure.
We should not deny Stalin's credit due to his heinous actions, nor should we deny Roosevelt's greatness because of the deaths of innocent people in Pearl Harbor. According to the habit of the Chinese people, we set up an order of heroes like these from Liangshanpo. Then Roosevelt should be ranked the first, while Stalin should be ranked the second, for what they did during the World War II. Although what they did could not be publicized, yet both of them had extraordinary achievements in this regard.
The third and fourth should be Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek, or tied for third. Both of them resisted without surrender under extremely difficult circumstances, which eventually led to defeats of Germany and Japan. So both of them also deserve great credits. Without the persistence of Churchill and Chiang, the United States and the Soviet Union could not beat up Germany and Japan. Following those leaders should be Charles de Gaulle who led the French Resistance Movement guerrillas, and Mao Zedong who led a Chinese army behind the Japanese. Of course, we can include the rest of the 108 generals as was in the Liangshanpo, but they really are irrelevant to our current theme.
In short, we should be fair in looking at the roles of the people who changed this world. We should not deny their credit because of their wrongs, nor cover up their mistakes or crimes due to their credit. Not to mention that World War II was a really big war, when even in normal peace-time international politics there is both open strategy and conspiracies, which are never as bright as what was in the heaven.
When we are commemorating the martyrs and learning from the historic lessons, we should not always try to expose the shortness of the others. For the KMT to say that the Communist Party reserved its energy for the upcoming civil war, what about Chiang refusing to accept Okinawa, in an effort to keep the troops for the civil war, which was equally guilty? Without Mao Zedong, there would no issue of today's Mongolia. Without Chiang Kai-shek, there would be no issue of today's Diaoyu Islands. There is not a difference between 8 ounces and half pound. The bald person should not complain about someone else having little hair.
We should learn from the USA and the European countries. It is good to invite some veterans and their families, when we commemorate the martyrs and summarize the lessons of war. Flower dedications, parades, speeches, and academic discussions have far better effect than swagger. Such would not only to review and strengthen the solidarity among allies, but also can dissolve hatred between former enemies. This way is in the direction toward universal brotherhood, and is called as world peace.
The same situation holds for the cross Taiwan-strait relations. If both sides of the veterans and their relatives were invited for flower dedications, parades, reviews, lectures, and other sorts of meaningful activity, then for sure it would be helpful for the peace across from the Strait, and promote a sense of closeness. That is much more meaningful than the quarrel for credit. In fact, when the entertainment industry was making the "Resisting the Japanese Invision" programs, they have done quite bit. Fairness is in people's hearts.
Instead of taking the opportunity for easy gratitude, Xi spent millions for a swaggering show. Does this mean that the lesson was not learned and he is moving towards war? Or that he is trying to frighten the Chinese people in an attempt to repeat the Tiananmen massacre? He has really lost his mind, so we have to speak out, to take on affairs which were not of our business.
Sometimes the Chinese proverb may not be right, such as this "It is not the dog's business to catch the mouse." That would be the dog's job. Because China is not the private property of Xi Jinping, but of every Chinese. If the lessons of history were not learned but everything goes as he wants, Xi Jinping would not only walk toward the abyss by himself, he would get everyone including foreigners involved.
I see Xi Jinping has immersed himself with too much power and is carried away. The people around him should help him to keep a clear mind, if they do not want to die without burial themselves.
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