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Should history be falsified, distorted, suppressed or erased to suit the ideological or personal preferences of those in power? Should important, even proud, chapters in the annals of India’s past interactions with the world be consigned to oblivion just because the government of the day does not want citizens to admire the heroes who scripted them?

These questions become pertinent when we consider India’s non-participation in the grand parade that Beijing’s Tiananmen Square witnessed on September 3. The parade, which caught worldwide attention, commemorated the 80th anniversary of China’s victory in its resistance against an eight-year-long war (1937-45) imposed by Japan. 

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Some historians claim the resistance lasted 14 years since Japan first attacked Manchuria in China in 1931. Its full-scale war on China began on July 7, 1937 and ended on September 2 1945, when a defeated Japan formally surrendered. Thus, China was the earliest victim of Japanese aggression and fought against it for the longest period.

Most Indians believe the Second World War was a purely European affair. This is because Japan’s wars in Asia are glossed over in our school curriculum. But we should remember that its invasion of China, and its military conquests elsewhere in south-east Asia were an integral part of the Second World War since imperialist Japan had joined the Axis Powers – Germany and Italy – against the Allied Nations, which included the United Kingdom, France, Soviet Union, USA and China. Just as the Soviet Union suffered the heaviest losses in the European and Eurasian theatre, China suffered the highest amount of deaths and destruction in Asia. 

Japan’s wars claimed 24 million lives; over half of them were Chinese casualties. A large part of China lay in ruins. Chinese forces – both the Kuomintang army under Chiang Kai-shek and the Communist army led by Mao Zedong – fought heroically to vanquish the Japanese.

Japan’s war crimes against China are well-documented. Its most infamous atrocity was the Massacre of Nanjing in December 1937. Within a span of six weeks, the Japanese army conducted a campaign of rape and mass murder, killing nearly 300,000 people in and around the city. The term ‘comfort women’ has perpetuated the shameful memory of Japan’s wars in Asia. Its imperial army forced tens of thousands of women, mostly from Korea, but also from China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Burma and other counties into sexual enslavement for the gratification of its soldiers. 

Japan’s imperialist expansion had begun much earlier. After defeating China in the first Sino-Japanese war in 1894-95, it annexed Taiwan from the former. It also ruled Korea as a colony from 1910 to 1945. Its attack on China in 1937 marked the second Sino-Japanese war. 

After initial intrusions into China, Japan made spectacular gains against the British and allied armies in South-East Asia. Occupying Burma from 1942-45, Japanese troops also came to the doorsteps of India and attempted to capture Kohima and Imphal. Had China succumbed to Japan, India too could have faced the flames of the war on its soil.

China’s successful resistance to Japanese aggression contributed greatly to the final outcome of the Second World War. By keeping most of the Japanese armed forces restricted to Chinese territory, China made it impossible for Japan to send its troops to join Hitler’s army in the European region. It also hindered the Japanese plan to invade Siberia, thereby sparing the Soviet Union the burden of defending itself in the east, at a time when it was locked in a life-and-death war to repulse Hitler’s aggression in the west.

Imperial Japan’s recklessness can be also gauged from its surprise aerial attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. Over 2,400 Americans were killed in this strike. The United States lost no time in declaring war on Japan and formally entered the Second World War on the side of the Allies. 

The Pearl Harbour misadventure led to the US committing a bigger war-crime – it dropped atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6th and 9th August, 1945. President Truman stated, “The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbour. They have been repaid manifold”. This forced Emperor Hirohito to announce the surrender of Japan on 15th August. The formal surrender ceremony was held on September 2, bringing the deadliest war in human history to an end.

Lessons of history, if not recalled for the edification of new generations, are lost in the dark depths of time. As a result, mankind repeats the horrors of the past. The 80th anniversary of China’s victory over Japan in the Second World War was an occasion that called for a befitting international commemoration. 

The global community had a duty to pay homage to the fallen soldiers, civilians and patriots of China, who defended their nation – and humanity at large – against Japanese militarism.

Chinese President Xi Jinping with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders during a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, in Beijing. Photo: AP/PTI

Responding to an invitation from Chinese president Xi Jinping, Russian president Vladimir Putin, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and leaders of over twenty other nations joined the victory parade in Beijing. India’s near and distant neighbours – Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Iran, Vietnam, Cambodia and others – were also present.  

Conspicuously missing among the global leaders at the parade was Prime Minister Narendra Modi – or any of his ministerial colleagues. India was only represented by its ambassador in Beijing. Neither Modi nor President Droupadi Murmu even sent greetings to President Xi Jinping on the occasion. 

In contrast, when Russia commemorated its own victory in the Second World War with a grand parade in Moscow on May 9, India was among the 29 countries that attended it. India’s representative at the event was Sanjay Singh, minister of state for defence, who was warmly welcomed by President Putin. Defence minister Rajnath........

© The Wire