Since the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), China was gradually reduced to a semi-colonial, semi-feudal country, bullied by Western powers. Chinese people had successively and tenaciously fought for national independence and liberation, but suffered defeats until the victory of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. This was the first complete victory for China since it began to fight off foreign invasions in the 1840s.

Late Chinese leader Mao Zedong said that China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression not only mattered for China or the East, but also for the world. He said that China's enemies were the world's enemies and China's war of resistance was a war for the world. As one of the four big powers in the anti-fascist allies of World War II, China contributed greatly to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War.

The first anti-fascist battlefield

China was the world's first nation to fight against fascist forces. As early as September 18, 1931, when Japanese fascists staged the September 18 Incident, a pretext for it to invade northeast China, Chinese people started to resist the invasion. They fired the first shot of the World Anti-Fascist War. After the July 7 Incident in 1937, Japan began a full-scale invasion of China. At the emergent moment when the Chinese nation faced a crisis, the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Kuomintang (KMT) began their second cooperation, and united all people in the country in an all-out war against Japanese aggression. They opened the world's first anti-fascist battlefield.

Confronted with a strong enemy, the Chinese troops adopted strategies to fight a protracted war. The KMT army fought Japanese invaders at front battlefields and forces led by the CPC fought the invaders in battlefields behind enemy lines. Together, they dealt heavy blows to the Japanese army.

Japan deployed a majority of its forces in China. Statistics show that in October 1938, the Japanese Army had 34 divisions, including one in Korea, 32 in China and one at home in Japan. The Japanese Army put 94 percent of its troops in battlefields in China. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese Army had 51 divisions, including four in Japan, two in Korea, 35 in China and 10 in Southeast Asia. This suggested that the Japanese Army deployed 70 percent of its forces in battlefields in China.

In early 1943, 660,000 Japanese soldiers fought in China, and 480,000 fought in the Pacific Theater. By the time the war ended, Japan had more than 1.05 million soldiers in China and 830,000 in the Pacific Theater. In addition, China sent an expedition army to fight Japanese troops and support allied troops in countries such as Myanmar.

The above data demonstrated that from 1937 to the end of World War II, Chinese battlefields engaged a majority of Japanese forces. China was a real major anti-fascist power. In January 1945, in his State of the Union address, U.S. President Roosevelt said, "Nor can we forget how, for more than seven long years, the Chinese people have been sustaining the barbarous attacks of the Japanese and containing large enemy forces on the vast areas of the Asiatic mainland."

On January 1, 1942, 26 nations signed the Declaration by United Nations. China signed the document as one of the allied "Big Four," which also included the United States, the United Kingdom and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (the USSR). The document laid the foundation for the United Nations.

Prolonged war

After 1937, Japan adopted a quick-fix strategy, attempting to force China to surrender and occupy the country through a limited war. At the beginning of the war, Japanese fascists arrogantly asserted that it would subdue China with three to four army divisions. But China's fierce resistance forced Japan to invest its major army troops and some marine forces in Chinese battlefields, turning a limited war into a full-scale war.

After the fall of Wuhan City in 1938, the Second Sino-Japanese War went into a stalemate. Japan, taking advantage of its victory, attempted to induce and force Chiang Kai-shek's government to surrender, so as to end the war. Under Japan's strong political maneuvers, in December 1938, Japanophiles led by KMT Vice President Wang Ching-wei, surrendered to Japan. Wang was harshly condemned by the CPC, the KMT and people all over the country, and Chinese people's fighting spirit flared up after his surrender.

In 1940, Japan escalated the war in China and bombarded Chongqing in order to force the Chiang Kai-shek's government to surrender. In August 1940, the Eighth Route Army launched the Hundred Regiments Battle, which demonstrated Chinese people's determination to resist the Japanese invasion.

Meanwhile, countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom increased their support to China, which solidified the determination of the Chiang Kai-shek's government to fight the Japanese invaders.

Before the Pacific War broke out, Japan attempted to reduce its troops in China in preparation for its invasion of Southeast Asia. But that plan was postponed by China's resistance. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, Japan began to implement a "protracted war" strategy, and intended to make China its military base so that it could divert some troops from China to the Pacific Theater.

In June 1942, Japan mobilized 11 divisions to attack Chongqing and other parts of Sichuan in order to compel China to surrender. It also intended to transfer 600,000 soldiers from other parts of the Pacific Theater to China. The plan was given up because of China's persistent resistance and Japan's inability to gather enough troops.

In 1941-42, the Japanese invasion army started unprecedented "mop-up" operations in areas under its control, and implemented the policy of "burn all, kill all and loot all."

The Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army led by the CPC closely relied on the people, and fought the Japanese Army with flexible tactics, foiling their "mop-ups" and greatly consuming the Japanese Army.

In April 1944, Japan launched battles in Henan, Hunan and Guangxi with 410,000 soldiers in 12 divisions to seize traffic arteries that could connect Japan with Southeast Asia and the southwest Pacific Theater through China.

The campaign, the largest of its kind fought between China and Japan, lasted for eight months. Japan won the campaign, but still could not defeat China all together. In 1945, the Japanese Army began to backdown from some fronts, and eventually surrendered.

China's contributions

Despite the September 18 Incident in 1931, the United States and the United Kingdom still held to their appeasement policy. After July 7, 1937 when all-out war erupted in China, they thought that China would soon become the second Ethiopia, and was reluctant to support it initially. Later, convinced by China's persistent resistance, they offered their assistance.

In the 10 years between 1931 and the start of the Pacific War, China fought Japanese invaders by itself.

It actively sought international help and advocated for an international anti-fascist ally. In 1942, the publication of the Declaration by United Nations marked the birth of an international anti-fascist ally. China actively promoted solidarity between allied powers.

China's resistance thwarted Japan's attempt to occupy the Far Eastern part of the former USSR. In June 1941, the Soviet-German War broke out, in which Japan saw a good opportunity to attack the Soviet Union. But the Japanese Army's main force was mired in battlefields in China, and hence could not advance to the north.

In December 1942, when Soviet and German forces were fighting fiercely at Stalingrad, Germany requested Japan to wage war on the Soviet Union in the Far East, but was rejected because Japan could not divert forces from battlefields in China. Later, Germany repeatedly made such requests, but was refused by Japan for the same reason. Hence, the Soviet Union could focus its forces on fighting German fascists and achieve victory.

China's resistance also distracted the Japanese Army from the Pacific Theater, and eased pressures on the United States and the United Kingdom.

Japan aimed to occupy Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific. In May and June of 1940, Germany defeated allied forces of the United Kingdom and France. France surrendered, and the United Kingdom was on the verge of collapse, providing Japan a good chance to advance into Southeast Asia. On July 26, 1940, the Japanese cabinet decided to put this go-south strategy on the agenda. But that plan was postponed due to China's resistance.

During the Pacific War, China's resistance was also a strong support to the United States. In early 1943, Japan went on the defensive in the Pacific Theater. It urgently needed army forces to fight against the United States, but could not pull out its major army forces from China.

During World War II, to defeat fascists and make arrangements for post-war world order, leaders of allied powers convened several conferences, including the Cairo Conference, the Tehran Conference, the Yalta Conference and the Potsdam Conference. China participated in the Cairo Conference in 1943, and contributed its opinions to other conferences. The decisions and declarations of these conferences laid the foundation for the post-war international order.

China participated in the preparations for establishing the United Nations. From August to October 1944, representatives of China, Great Britain, the USSR and the United States met at Dumbarton Oaks in the suburb of Washington, D. C. to prepare a blueprint for the United Nations. On April 25, 1945, the Charter of the United Nations was passed at the San Francisco Conference. On October 24, the charter became effective officially, and the United Nations was born. China naturally became a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

The above facts show that China has made outstanding contributions to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War and the establishment of the post-war world order.

(The author is president of the Chinese Association for History of World War II and president of Wuhan University China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies)