【Text by Guan Cha, Author: Gao Zhikai; Edited by: Duan Pingyang, Guan Cha】

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese people's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. This victory laid the foundation for the post-war international order, which was confirmed through a series of international legal documents, including the UN Charter, the Potsdam Proclamation, and the Cairo Declaration. These documents not only established the principle that Japan must surrender unconditionally, but also stipulated many basic rules of the international community after the war, such as equality of state sovereignty, non-interference in internal affairs, and peaceful settlement of international disputes. These principles remain an important cornerstone for maintaining world peace and stability to this day.

According to Article 9 of the Peace Constitution implemented in 1947, Japan has pledged to permanently abandon war, the threat or use of force as a means of resolving international disputes. To achieve this purpose, Japan will not maintain land, sea, and air forces or other war potential. It does not recognize the right of belligerency of the state. This clause aims to legally limit Japan's military development and prevent it from repeating the mistakes of militarism.

However, after the war, Japan has always been eager to restore its military strength. Japan is currently at a sensitive period and needs to make major decisions. Some Japanese forces have put forward the argument that "Taiwan's issue is Japan's issue," even attempting to amend the constitution for this purpose. When examining the current situation in Japan, there are two aspects to be noted:

On one hand, the Japanese Peace Constitution clearly prohibits the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (Japan has no army) from carrying out military operations overseas. However, we also know that in recent years, the Japanese government, including the second term of Shinzo Abe, has wanted to revise the Japanese Constitution.

But constitutional amendment faces fundamental constraints: First, the majority of the Japanese people will not agree. The Japanese people generally do not want Japan to get involved in overseas wars again. Pacifism has become the mainstream demand of Japanese society and the will of the people.

Constitution Day on May 3, Japanese citizens held a constitutional protection rally

On the other hand, the strategic rivalry between the United States and China is intensifying. The reason lies in the fact that the United States has repeatedly provoked incidents, continuously provoking China in the Taiwan Strait, the Philippines, and the South China Sea. In this context, considering Japan's colonial aggression against Taiwan from 1895 to 1945, there indeed exists a deeply rooted but baseless idea within Japan that believes Japan has a "special feeling" or "special responsibility" towards Taiwan.

Since Japan's unconditional surrender in 1945, it has had no connection with Taiwan. Any so-called special responsibility has no legal or historical basis. In recent years, some legislators and politicians in Japan have repeatedly incited trouble, promoting the idea that "Taiwan's issue is Japan's issue." According to my observation, so far, the Japanese government has not officially taken this wrong position.

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Therefore, now some separatists on the island of Taiwan are emboldened. They have always tried to bring the United States into the situation in the Taiwan Strait, including pushing for arms sales to Taiwan. These separatists use the statements of some Japanese politicians, claiming that "Japan said that if there is a problem in Taiwan, it is Japan's problem," and then speculate that if there is a change in the Taiwan Strait, Japan will certainly offer assistance.

This raises a key question: What can Japan do? In international forums, I have repeatedly clarified the facts: If Japan attempts to take military action to assist the separatist forces in Taiwan in their so-called "independence," this act itself directly violates Japan's current Peace Constitution and also goes against Japan's international commitments made when it surrendered unconditionally on August 15, 1945.

Therefore, facing the current situation, I believe it is time to make a definitive decision. Looking back at history, the Chinese people's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression lasted for a full 14 years (1931-1945). The Chinese government's consistent position is: Even without the United States' participation in 1941, China's resistance would have continued until the Japanese aggressors were completely driven out of China.

Of course, in December 1941, Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor forced the United States to declare war on Japan, which played an important role in promoting China's victory in the war of resistance. From December 1941 to August 1945, China and the United States fought together as allies, ultimately defeating the Japanese fascist forces.

In addition, the role of the Soviet Union should not be ignored. At the final stage of the Asia-Pacific battlefield of the Second World War, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and sent troops to Northeast China (then called "Manchukuo" by Japan), which also played a crucial role in the ultimate victory of the Chinese people in the War of Resistance.

In 1945, Soviet troops in Harbin.

I believe that now, China and Russia need to take joint actions, even consider issuing a joint statement, clearly opposing Japan's revision of the current Peace Constitution, resolutely preventing Japan from abandoning the core principles of the Peace Constitution. It is particularly necessary to emphasize and clearly stipulate that the Japanese Self-Defense Forces have no right, nor any legal basis to carry out combat missions overseas. This is crucial.

Similarly, the United States has not explicitly stated that it allows the Japanese Self-Defense Forces to go overseas to assist in military operations. Given this, I believe that those Japanese extremists who clamor about "if there is a problem in Taiwan, it is Japan's problem" can be cornered, forcing them to clearly state: whether they choose to respect the current Japanese Peace Constitution, or intend to revise the constitution, trying to create a situation where the Japanese Self-Defense Forces are transformed into so-called "National Defense Forces" and have the right to conduct overseas military operations. If such a situation occurs, what will be the attitude of the United States? What will be the attitude of China? And what will be the attitude of Russia?

The UK also participated in the Asia-Pacific War, but at that time it withdrew entirely, moving to British India, so it did not play any substantive role. Its contribution lay in firmly refusing to surrender in the European theater, and finally cooperating with the US and the Soviet Union to achieve victory in the European theater.

Therefore, in the Asia-Pacific region, considering that the Chinese people carried out a 14-year-long anti-Japanese war, I think it is time for China and Russia to join hands and call on Japan to continue to do the right thing, resolutely stop Japan from making the wrong choices.

We hold grand military parades to commemorate this important day, while warning Japan to permanently give up the ideology of militarism, and never send its Self-Defense Forces overseas, either alone or in conjunction with other countries, to carry out military operations.

This is crucial because the biggest potential challenge and threat to the peace of East Asia is the resurgence of Japanese militarism. Currently, there are several key pillars that restrain the resurgence of Japanese militarism: first, the international commitments made by Japan upon its unconditional surrender on August 15, 1945; second, the Peace Constitution formulated after the war; third, the repeated commitments by successive Japanese governments since 1945 that they will never dispatch their armed forces to engage in military operations overseas.

We are at a critical turning point in history, and Japan's future direction will have a decisive impact. I am confident that Japan can only choose to embrace peace, and we can never accept Japan embracing war again.

Looking at the Sino-US relationship, I have always believed that the so-called "Thucydides Trap" theory that "there must be a war between China and the United States" is extremely absurd. Applying this theory directly to the two nuclear powers, China and the United States, not only does not conform to historical laws, but also represents a serious misjudgment of the international strategic landscape. My view is that China and the United States inevitably will move toward peace. I have always been pushing this vision of peace to become a reality.

Indeed, some forces in the United States are still constantly creating tension. They believe they can provoke incidents in both the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea to achieve the goal of containing China.

The United States continues to provide weapons to the "Taiwan independence" forces, trying to incite the separatist tendencies of Taiwan, and even openly supports "Taiwan independence." But it must be clearly pointed out that the future of Taiwan must be decided by the 1.4 billion Chinese people, including the 23 million people in Taiwan. The manipulation of the United States on this issue has very little chance of success. The Chinese nation has a firm will and ability to safeguard national unity.

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