On May 9th,
Victory Day in the
world war against fascism, at the invitation of Russia’s President Vladimir
Putin, I will visit Russia and take part in the celebrations in Moscow devoted
to the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. This sacred day
I will celebrate together with the Russian people and the entire world.
Everyone
remembers that the aggressive wars begun by the fascists and militarists
inflicted unprecedented damage and suffering on the peoples of China, Russia,
and the countries of Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world. The relentless
struggle between justice and evil, light and darkness, freedom and slavery, was
joined by the peoples of China, Russia, and more than 50 other countries, as
well as by all the other peace-loving peoples of the world, who stood up as one
and formed a broad international anti-fascist and anti-militarist front. All
these nations fought in bloody battles against the enemy, and in so doing
defeated the most evil and brutal aggressors, bringing peace to the world.
I
remember, in March 2013, when I first visited Russia on a state visit, I laid a
wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin walls. There was a
depiction of a soldier’s helmet and a red banner on the tomb, and there burned
an eternal fire, symbolizing the unbroken life and unwavering fearlessness of
our fallen heroes. “Your name is unknown, your deeds are immortal.” They will
never be forgotten by the Russian people, the Chinese people, or
anyone else.
China was
the main theater of military operations in Asia during the Second World War.
The Chinese people stood up before anyone else in the struggle against the
Japanese militarists, waged the longest war, fought in the hardest conditions,
and, like Russia, suffered the most enormous losses. The Chinese army and
people fought stoically and persistently, locking down and destroying numerous
contingents of the Japanese aggressors. At the cost of a huge national sacrifice
– the lives of more than 35 million people – a great victory was finally won
and an enormous contribution was made to victory in the world struggle against
fascism. The exploits of the Chinese people in the war against the militarists,
just like the exploits of the Russian people, will be immortalized forever in
history and will never die.
The
Chinese and Russian peoples supported each other, helped each other, they were
comrades in arms in the war against fascism and militarism, and built a
friendship with each other forged with blood and life. In the most difficult
times of the Great Patriotic War, many of the best sons and daughters of the
Chinese people decisively joined in the battle against German fascism. Mao
Anying – the eldest son of Chairman Mao Zedong – fought on many battles as a
political officer of a tank company of the 1st Belorussian Front, up to the
storming of Berlin. The Chinese fighter pilot Tang Duo, as deputy commander of
a fighter company of the Soviet Army, distinguished himself in air battles
against the fascist forces. Children of the leaders of the Chinese Communist
Party and descendants of the fallen heroes of the Chinese Revolution, when
studying at the Ivanovo international boarding school, despite that they were
still only children, nonetheless went off to dig trenches, prepared Molotov
cocktails, prepared food and clothes for the fighters, chopped trees, dug out
potatoes, and looked after the wounded in hospitals. Apart from that, many of
them regularly donated blood – 430 millilitres once per month for the soldiers
at the front. The Chinese female journalist Hu Jibang, small and weak,
underwent the entire war from the first day to the last, through bullets and
fire, writing about the resilience and courage of the Soviet people, the
barbarous cruelty of the fascist hordes, and the joy of the Russian soldiers
and people in their times of triumph. It emboldened the armies and peoples of
both countries, raising their will to fight to the end, to the final victory.
Alongside the above heroes there are many other representatives of the Chinese
people who contributed to the Great Patriotic War while remaining
unknown soldiers.
The
Russian people gave the Chinese people valuable political and moral support in
their war against Japanese invaders. This included large convoys of arms and
war material. More than 2,000 Soviet fighter pilots joined the Chinese air
force and helped in the air battles over China. More than 200 of them died in
battles over Chinese soil. In the closing phase of the war, Red Army soldiers
of the Soviet Union were sent to north-east China. Together with the Chinese
army and people they fought against the Japanese militarists, which helped
China tremendously in achieving final victory. The Chinese people will always
remember the Russians, both soldiers and civilians, who gave their lives for
the independence and liberation of the Chinese nation.
The
famous Russian historian Vasily Klyuchevsky said, that, having forgotten
history, our soul can get lost in the darkness. To forget history is to commit
treason. The Chinese and Russian peoples stand ready, together with all
peace-loving countries and peoples, and with the automost determination and
decisiveness, to oppose any actions or attempts to deny, distort, and rewrite
the history of the Second World War.
This
year, China and Russia will hold a series of events to mark the 70th
anniversary of Victory in the Second World War. There will also be many other
events conducted by the UN and other international and regional organizations.
The purpose of these events and celebrations is to demonstrate our
determination to defend the results of the Second World War, to protect
international equality and justice, and to remind out contemporaries that it is
necessary to preserve and guard the peace that was won for humanity at too high
a price.
The hard
lessons of the Second World War tell people, that humanity’s coexistence is not
subject to the laws of the jungle; that world politics is diametrically
contradictory to belligerent and hegemonic power politics; and that the path of
human development is not founded on the principle of “winner takes all” or in games
with zero-sum outcomes. Peace – yes, war – no, cooperation – yes, confrontation
– no, mutual gains are honored, while zero-sum results – are not: This is what
constitutes the unchanging core and essence of peace, progress, and the
development of human society.
Today,
mankind has unprecedentedly good opportunities for the realization of our goal
– peace, development, and the formation of a system of international relations
that is ever more strongly based on the spirit of cooperation and mutual
benefits. “Unity – is strength, while self-isolation – is weakness.”
Cooperation and the win-win principle should be adopted as the basic
orientation of all countries in international affairs. We have to unite our own
interests with the common interests of all countries, find and expand on the
common points of interests of different parties, develop and establish a new
conception of multilateral win-win, to always be ready to extend a helping hand
to each other at difficult times, to partake together of rights, interests, and
responsibilities, and to collectively collaborate to solve growing global
problems such as climate change, energy security, cybersecurity, national
disasters, and so on. In short, we are in it together on our planet Earth – the
homeland of all humanity.
The
Chinese people and the Russian people – they are both great peoples. In the
years of grief and misery, our indestructible camaraderie was cemented in place
with blood. Today the peoples of China and Russian will hand in hand and
shoulder to shoulder defend peace, promote development, and make their
contributions to lasting world peace and human progress.
Copyright
RG.ru (Russian) and the Unz Review 2015
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