Today marks the 70th anniversary of the “September 18th Incident”. On September 18th, 1931, Japanese militarists deliberately created the “September 18th Incident” at Liutiaohu, suburb of Shenyang City, which shocked China and the entire world. The Incident was followed by Japan’s total occupation of China’s northeast. The Chinese nation since then went into 14 years of heroic war of resistance against Japanese aggression and struggle for self-survival.

History, when served as a mirror, can guide future development.  The blood-stained lesson 70 years ago tells the Chinese people that backwardness leads to defeat. We will forever remember that period of history, never allowing the repeat of the tragedy. The history of the doomed Japanese militarism has demonstrated that any attempt to enslave people of other nations through aggression and expansion will only end in shameful failure.

The Chinese Government and people call for friendship with the Japanese people from generation to generation on the basis of “learning from history and looking into the future”. 70 years after the “September 18th Incident”, we hope Japan would earnestly and correctly recognize and treat its past history, draw profound lessons from it and adopt concrete actions to go down the road of peaceful development. Only by doing so can Japan truly win the trust of the international community.