by Xinhua writer Zhang Xin
BEIJING, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday held a solemn meeting to mark the 70th anniversary of the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) entering the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to fight in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea.
Amid profound changes and mounting uncertainties on the international landscape, commemorating the historic war bears great current significance. China has once again demonstrated its resolve to resist hegemonic bullying and safeguard international justice and world peace, as well as its confidence in overcoming all difficulties and realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.
The 1950-1953 war, the first major local war of international proportions after World War II, was forced upon China after the then U.S. government, in pursuit of its global strategy, militarily intervened in what had started as a Korean civil war.
Despite China's repeated warnings, invading U.S. troops took the flames of war to the China-DPRK border, and U.S. aircraft bombed Chinese border towns and villages time and again, posing a grave threat to the security of the nascent People's Republic of China.
Facing U.S. hostilities and requested by Pyongyang, China, in an unmistakable demonstration of its extraordinary courage and vision, made the historic decision to send the CPV across the Yalu River to resist U.S. aggression, aid the DPRK, and defend the homeland.
Fighting shoulder to shoulder with the DPRK people and army, heroic CPV soldiers achieved against all the odds an epic victory in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, creating a spectacular example of the weak defeating the strong in the history of human warfare.
Among many other far-reaching implications, the hard-won victory fully demonstrated the Chinese people's iron will to defend their country and safeguard world peace, and encouraged the pursuit of independence and liberation of oppressed nations across the world.
Seventy years on, that momentous victory -- one of justice, of peace and of the people as Chinese President Xi Jinping has pointed out -- and the indomitable spirit of the CPV remain highly relevant today.
Over the past seven decades, the Chinese people have managed to rise up to every challenge and achieved remarkable social and economic progress.
Now as China reached a critical stage in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and pursuing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation, commemorating that victory not only reaffirms China's resolve to preserve its national sovereignty, security and development interests, but will also inspire the Chinese people to continue to conquer all kinds of difficulties along the way forward.
Across the world, challenges and uncertainties are many and daunting, as acts of bullying, practices of unilateralism, and reckless interventions under such pretexts as human rights and freedom are risking to undermine regional and global stability and peace.
Against such a global backdrop, commemorating that victory not only reaffirms China's steadfast commitment to safeguarding world peace and justice and working with others to build a community with a shared future for mankind, but helps encourage all nations across the world to call out and stand up to hegemonic and bullying behavior.
In this age of deep interconnection and interdependence, the fate of all countries and peoples are linked together like never before. As Xi stressed at Friday's meeting, the pursuit of unilateralism, protectionism and extreme egoism leads nowhere, and seeking peaceful development and win-win cooperation is the only right way forward.
By commemorating the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, China has sent out a clear message. It is a message of peace, justice and resolve, and a message against aggression, bullying and hegemony. Anyone plotting to sabotage China's peaceful development or derail world peace is now forewarned. Enditem
