On Thursday, December 18, at a UN General Assembly high-level plenum marking the first International Day Against Colonialism in All Its Forms and Manifestations, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, Fu Cong, called on Japan to confront its wartime past and honor the commitments it made on the Taiwan question.
Fu emphasized that the world remains in the shadow of colonial legacies and stressed the need to reject any challenge to the post-war order. “The history of the World Anti-Fascist War teaches us that peace needs to be striven for and safeguarded,” he said.
Highlighting the purpose of the first International Day Against Colonialism, Fu urged the international community to remember the harms of colonialism, accelerate decolonization efforts, and end colonial rule in all its forms.
Recalling the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials that held principal aggressors accountable, Fu noted that Japan's invasions of the Chinese mainland, the Korean Peninsula and Southeast Asia unleashed atrocities that stained the blood of millions.
He pointed to the scale of Japan's colonial rule in Taiwan, which resulted in the deaths of over 650,000 residents of Taiwan, the forced conscription of around 200,000 young people, and the coercion of more than 2,000 women into sexual slavery.
Fu urged Japan to conduct deep soul-searching, halt any provocative actions that cross the line, retract erroneous remarks, and abide by its political commitments on the Taiwan question.
He warned that any attempt to subvert the post-war international order could destabilize global peace. “We must never allow denial or distortion of the history of aggression, never allow the revival of militarism, and never allow the recurrence of historical tragedies,” he said.
As the first International Day Against Colonialism draws global attention to unfinished work, Fu Cong's remarks underscore the necessity of historical reflection and solidarity in building a peaceful future.
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China urges Japan to do soul-searching regarding its historical crimes
cgtn.com
