How overseas Chinese fought Japan during World War II

Overseas Chinese join the army. More than 13,000 Chinese were in the United States Army during World War II, accounting for more than a fifth of the total number of male overseas Chinese in the US. [Photo exclusively provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Overseas Chinese played a significant role in the victory in the world's anti-Fascist war by becoming a formidable resistance force. More than 13,000 Chinese were in the United States Army during World War II, accounting for more than a fifth of the total number of male overseas Chinese in the US. Let's have a look at some of the efforts and contributions made by overseas Chinese.

The Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army

Members of the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army pose for photo. [Photo exclusively provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) was a resistance force against fascism when Malaya was occupied by the Japanese on Dec 8, 1941, during World War II.

It originated among Chinese cadres of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP). The MPAJA claimed to have injured or killed 5,500 Japanese troops while losing 1,000 Chinese soldiers during Japanese-occupied Malaya. Some 340 battles took place during the Japanese invasion of Malaya lasting three years and eight months.

Long before Malaya fell to Japan, many Chinese Malayans had been hostile to Japan, because of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression from 1937 to 1945.

On Dec 18, 1941, shortly before the Fall of Singapore, the British and the MCP, formerly enemies, agreed to co-operate against the Japanese in Malaya. The British freed those MCP members they were holding in jail.

They also gave some MCP members a crash course in guerilla warfare at 101 special training school in Singapore. These people then were sent to the front or dispersed into the countryside to form an underground resistance force against the Japanese. Although small in number, about 165, they were one of the nuclei around which the MPAJA formed. Those trainees later become the Army's leader, cadre and early members.

Force 136

'Force 136' organized by the British and Chinese governments, most of its members were overseas Chinese; they gathered information and carried out guerilla warfare behind Japanese lines.

After Malaya's fall, the British in Southeast Asia reestablished contact with Malayan Communist Party by Force 136, an irregular warfare organization in August 1943. The MCP leaders entered into discussions with the British representive Colonel John Davis. "It was agreed that in return for arms, training, and medical supplies the MPAJA would cooperate and accept the British Army's orders during the war with Japan.

The both sides signed a cooperation agreement against Japanese on Dec 31, 1943.