Foreign and Military Affairs

Chinese envoy calls on cherishing peace on WWII anniversary

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-07 09:43

UNITED NATIONS - Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Li Baodong Thursday called on the international society to cherish peace and remain vigilant to the lingering Nazism and militarism.

"We should cherish peace and reconciliation more dearly, and take concrete action to maintain international peace and security," Li told a special meeting of the General Assembly commemorating the 65th anniversary of World War II.

Saying that "the ghost of Nazism and militarism lingers" sixty-five years after the end of the Second World War, Li called on the international community must remain vigilant.

"Only by drawing lessons from the past can we avoid the recurrence of historical tragedies and save the future generations from the scourge of war," he said.

The world anti-fascist war, a war of unseen magnitude, involved more than 80 countries and regions and about two billion people in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Oceania. China was one of the main battlefields of the world anti-fascist war.

The war caused over 35 million military and civilian casualties in China, ravaged the Chinese civilization, and incurred heavy losses to the Chinese nation, said Li. In the face of the war, more than 50 countries, China included, worked together to form a world anti-fascist united front.

"China will never forget the sympathy and support given by all the peace-loving countries and people during the war; China will never forget the Soviet Union Red Army, members of the American Flying Tigers, and medical personnel from Canada, India and other countries who fought shoulder to shoulder with the Chinese people and made heroic sacrifices in the Chinese battlefields," the ambassador said.

Some 50 to 70 million people perished during the war, in which the Allied forces eventually defeated the Axis, led by Adolf Hitler, in 1945. As the war drew to a close, delegations of the world gathered in San Francisco to daft the United Nations charter, which was intended to foster international cooperation and prevent future conflicts.

Li said the victory of the world anti-fascist war prompted the founding of the United Nations and the formulation of the UN Charter and other basic norms governing international relations.

In the face of various global threats and challenges, the United Nations has a more important role to play, he said, adding that the international society should continue to firmly uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and maintain the authority and role of the United Nations and its Security Council.

Although the Second World War continued in Asia until August 1945 beyond May's end of fighting in Europe, the General Assembly unanimously resolved in March to hold a special solemn meeting in the second week of May "in commemoration of all victims of the war."