Category: History

Dongji Rescue: An inspiring blockbuster of courage, resistance and shared humanity

Friends of Socialist China (FOSC) was grateful to be invited to the European premiere of the film Dongji Rescue by the Chinese Embassy. The screening took place in the Odeon Luxe in Leicester Square, a grand venue fit for the opening of such a blockbuster film, attended by some of China’s biggest acting stars. The premiere took place on the 15th of August, the 80th anniversary of VJ day, commemorating the allied victory over imperial Japan in World War Two, the most appropriate date for a film examining the shared Chinese and British fight against fascism.

We are very pleased to publish the following review by FOSC Britain Committee member Alfie Howis and hope that as many as possible of our readers take the opportunity to see this inspiring and moving film.

Dongji Rescue is effectively a follow up to the documentary The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru which was released earlier this year. The documentary was a groundbreaking study of the sinking of a Japanese ship off China in 1942 by a US submarine, killing over 800 British POWs onboard who had been captured in Hong Kong, with 384 others rescued from the water by Chinese villagers from the nearby island. The film follows the story of the people on Dongji Island defying their Japanese occupiers and setting sail to rescue, and fight alongside, the drowning British soldiers at the shipwreck. The film was made possible as part of an initiative by the Chinese government to promote media about the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-fascist War, to maintain accurate memory of Japanese imperialism and learn lessons from the successful fight against it.

“At the darkest hour of the Second World War, China and the UK fought on different fronts but shared a common mission: to defend humanity against fascism and aggression. Fighting side by side, the peoples of our two countries forged a deep friendship,” said Chinese Ambassador Zheng Zeguang at the premiere. Public awareness of China’s role in WW2 is deeply lacking in Britain, and even where there is knowledge of it, the scale of China’s contribution, even beyond their own fight for national liberation, is lost on most. Dongji Rescue, which is now on general release across UK cinemas, will go some way to rectifying that and may help contribute to a deepening  of the understanding of this topic.

Dongji Rescue is a film about heroism, solidarity, and anti-fascism, but above all it shows the power of collective, militant struggle to resist oppression and take the most just course of action. Throughout the film there are individual heroes, but the central junction of the narrative is the collective decision of the islanders, after wavering on the part of some, to rise up against the Japanese occupation, take to their boats, and risk death together in order to save the soldiers. This would not have been possible without all of the boats taking to the seas as one in a unified action, able to overwhelm the Japanese forces on the sinking ship and provide enough space to rescue hundreds of POWs. The sense of solidarity that the villagers embody as they liberated themselves, however briefly, from occupation is extended to the British men as they share the same struggle in that one moment, both fighting for their lives under attack from the same seemingly overwhelming force, in the end blunted by their collective bravery and resistance. Even the regimented and rank subordinated POWs can only succeed through self-organised collective efforts. Whether freeing themselves from the locked hold or flipping Japanese motorboats, the reactive instinct of the men goes beyond the orders from their commanders and is more akin to the spirit embodied by the islanders, which ultimately saves many of their lives.

Continue reading Dongji Rescue: An inspiring blockbuster of courage, resistance and shared humanity

80 years since the end of World War II – Japanese militarism has not changed its spots

In the following contributed article, Stephen Chang of People’s Forum Ltd. (UK) outlines how, far from uprooting the soil in which Japanese militarism and fascism had bred, the United States, as the occupying power following Japan’s surrender 80 years ago, pressed leading war criminals from Emperor Hirohito himself down into the service of its own hegemonic project. As a result, the USA, along with its client state Japan, remains today the greatest threat to peace in the Asia Pacific region. Vigilance is needed.

As we commemorate Japan’s unconditional surrender 80 years ago, on 15 August 1945, which ended WWII in Asia Pacific, we must remain vigilant.

Hirohito, the war time emperor of Japan, was a war criminal who escaped punishment on the insistence of the US.  Hirohito was directly and personally involved in the conduct of Japan’s invasion of sovereign nations and the death and atrocities inflicted on millions of civilians during WWII in Asia Pacific. Hirohito’s surrender speech is full of lies, half-truths and distortion of facts about Japan’s declaration, conduct and even surrender of its barbaric war against the people of the Asia Pacific region.

Hirohito, in his surrender speech, referred to Japan’s four years of war in Asia Pacific.  This is a blatant lie. Japan invaded and occupied part of northern China, namely the Manchurian region, on 18 September in 1931, attacked and bombed Shanghai in 1932, and expanded its war on the rest of China in 1937.  The reference to four years by Hirohito (1941-1945) is a deliberate attempt on the part of fascist Japan to exclude and ignore its invasion and occupation of part of China from 1931 and the atrocities committed in China like the massacre of 300,000 Chinese civilians, men, women and children, in Nanjing in 1937.

Fascist Japan announced its unconditional surrender to the Allied powers (China, Soviet Union, UK and USA) on 15 August 1945 and formally surrendered on 2 September 1945.   China declared the end of the Chinese people’s war against the Japanese invaders on 3 September 1945, and the formal ceremony of Japan’s surrender to China took place on 9 September 1945.  So, WWII in Asia lasted 14 years, not four years as claimed by war criminal Hirohito, as China forms a large part of Asia and suffered most severely from Japan’s war crimes and atrocities.

Why was Hirohito not tried as a war criminal?  Because the USA wanted a fascist puppet regime in the Asia Pacific region to further its post WWII global imperial domination.  Hirohito remained emperor of Japan until his death in 1989.  In 1971, the UK, a subservient nation to the US, accorded this war criminal the highest honour of an official State Visit.  Under Hirohito, and Japan’s post war constitution drafted by the US, Japan became an effective puppet state of the US from the end of WWII to the present time.

We should know that Nobusuke Kishi, Prime Minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960, was the mastermind of Japan exploitative economic and industrial policies in the Manchurian region of China from 1932 following its invasion in 1931, enslaving millions of Chinese for the benefit of Japan.  This is also where Japan’s Unit 731, the secret Japanese military testing facility (on live Chinese, Korean, Russian and other men, women and children) for biological warfare was based – in Harbin.

None of the leaders of Unit 731 were prosecuted for war crimes at the insistence of the US, in exchange for full disclosure to the US by Japan of the findings and results of its biological warfare experiments. (Only the Soviet government set up a special military tribunal at Khabarovsk in December 1949 to hold a joint trial of 12 former Japanese army officers on criminal charges relating to Unit 731’s wartime activities.) Unit 731 commanding officer Surgeon General Shiro Ishii, who commanded bubonic plague attacks on the Chinese cities of Changde and Ningbo, was awarded a special service medal by war criminal Hirohito and was granted immunity from war crimes against humanity by the US in 1948.  He was subsequently hired by the US to lecture US officers at Fort Detrick on the use of bioweapons and the findings made by Unit 731.

General Dr Masaji Kitano was the second commander of Unit 731 from 1942.  He too was granted immunity from war crimes prosecution and released as a POW and repatriated to Japan in 1946.   Using his biological warfare knowledge, in 1950 Kitano was a founder of Green Cross Corporation, which became one of Japan’s premier pharmaceutical companies, now known as Mitsubishi Pharma Corporation.  Murray Sanders, the US officer who led the US cover-up of Japanese war crimes, became a consultant to Green Cross.

In 1941 Kishi became a member of Japan’s WWII cabinet.  He was arrested to face trial as a Class A war criminal on Japan’s surrender.  However, the US released him without charges in 1948 and groomed him to be a leader of post war Japan.  This war criminal was elected to Japan’s parliament (National Diet) in 1953. With US support, he consolidated Japanese conservatives so as to counter the influence of Japan’s Socialist and Communist parties.  In 1955 he was instrumental in the establishment of the Liberal Democratic Party.  He was also key to setting up the “1955 System” that provided the basis for the LDP to remain Japan’s dominant party.

Kishi’s (the war criminal turned prime minister of Japan) younger brother, Eisaku Sato, was Japan’s prime minister from 1964 to 1972.   Kishi’s grandson, Shinzo Abe, was Japan’s prime minister from 2012 (the start of the Obama/Clinton “Pivot to Asia Pacific” designed to contain China) to 2020.

We should know that today:

  • Japan’s military is the fifth largest in the world and based on its current military budget is projected to become the third largest after the US and China.
  • The US has 120 active military bases and 55,000 military personnel in Japan.
  • Japan is home to the US’ largest and most heavily armed overseas military base.
  • The US military is the main and greatest beneficiary from the Japanese WWII Unit 731 biowarfare research on live human beings.

The US, the leader of the “free world” since WWII, self-styled beacon of democracy and human rights, and party to Japan’s war crimes against humanity, is today, together with its puppet client state Japan, the greatest threat to peace in the Asia Pacific region and globally.

While we commemorate the end of WWII 80 years ago, we must remember that the US is the main country in the world that has waged covert and overt wars against sovereign nations in most if not all of the 80 years since the end of WWII.

Beyond victory: Rethinking WWII’s legacy in a fractured world

We are pleased to publish below an original article by Wu Yanni, a Beijing-based political commentator and contributor to Chinese and international media, arguing that the lessons of World War II remain relevant – and indeed urgent – in today’s geopolitical context.

Marking the 80th anniversary of the victory over fascism and the founding of the United Nations, Wu stresses that the war’s devastation—100 million casualties worldwide, including 35 million Chinese lives—is a sobering reminder that militarism “leads not to greatness, but to ruin.” For China, the 14-year resistance against Japan became both a struggle for survival and part of the foundation of its modern nationhood.

A central theme is the danger of selective memory. Wu critiques attempts in Japan to downplay atrocities such as the Nanjing Massacre or Unit 731, a secret research facility in Heilongjiang, northeast China, where criminal and inhumane experiments were carried out on Chinese, Russian, Korean and other prisoners. Globally, she warns, invoking distorted history to justify present-day militarism and aggression undermines the spirit of the UN Charter and runs counter to the multipolar trend.

The article highlights the overlooked role of the Global South in the war: India’s 2.5 million volunteer soldiers, African and Latin American contributions, and Brazil’s combat role. These experiences have been marginalised and largely ignored in Western historical accounts. Wu writes:

As soldiers returned home, many questioned why they had fought for freedom abroad while being denied basic rights at home. From Vietnam to Ghana to Indonesia, national liberation movements accelerated. The 1955 Bandung Conference, where newly independent nations charted a path toward nonalignment and sovereignty, marked a turning point.

Today, however, “the Global South is no longer a silent object of history. From BRICS cooperation to African-led development frameworks and Latin American regionalism, formerly marginalised voices are demanding a say in shaping global rules.”

Wu Yanni concludes by recounting China’s peaceful rise and its consistent orientation towards inclusive development and multilateral cooperation. As such, China is helping to truly apply the lessons of WWII, “building a future where peace is sustained not by dominance but by cooperation, equity, and respect”.

War and peace have always shaped the trajectory of human civilization. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the broader World Anti-Fascist War, as well as the founding of the United Nations.

Eighty years ago, nations came together in the wake of unprecedented devastation to chart a new path for global peace. China, along with the Soviet Union, was among the first to sign the UN Charter, an act symbolizing a shared hope that the horrors of fascism would never be repeated.

The price of that hope was staggering: over 100 million casualties, with half of humanity drawn into the conflict. For China, the war was not just a battleground against foreign invasion; it was a pivotal moment in its modern nationhood. The 14-year resistance against Japanese aggression, which cost 35 million Chinese military and civilian lives, held the Eastern Front and helped shape the moral foundation of the postwar international order.

Looking back from today’s fractured and uncertain world, the lessons of that war remain painfully relevant. Militarism, no matter how technologically advanced or ideologically justified, inevitably breeds destruction. Dominant narratives that claim moral superiority cannot contain the rising currents of multipolarity. Real peace cannot be achieved through alliances defined by exclusion. It requires a shared commitment to inclusion, fairness, and mutual respect.

Continue reading Beyond victory: Rethinking WWII’s legacy in a fractured world

Chinese Ambassador recalls wartime solidarity between Chinese and British people

On August 15, which marked the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in the Second World War, Chinese Ambassador to Britain Zheng Zeguang published an article in the Guardian newspaper entitled, ‘China and Britain shared a mission to fight aggression and fascism. And we can work together today’.

Ambassador Zheng wrote: “At the darkest hour of the Second World War, China and the UK fought on different fronts but shared a common mission: to defend humanity against fascism and aggression. Millions of lives were lost, cities razed, and families torn apart. Yet in that darkness, courage and solidarity illuminated the way forward. The Chinese and British peoples stood shoulder to shoulder, united by sacrifice and a shared belief in freedom and justice.”

Among the examples he cites:

  • In Asia, Chinese forces made immense sacrifices to support Allied efforts. In 1942, the Chinese Expeditionary Force marched over 1,500 gruelling kilometers through the jungles of Myanmar to rescue British forces trapped by Japanese troops.
  • In Britain, thousands of Chinese seamen served with quiet courage in perilous convoys. They braved the freezing Atlantic to deliver fuel and supplies to British forces on the front lines – often with little recognition and no promise of return. [In fact, thousands of them were shamefully deported after the war in an act of egregious racism by the Labour government that tore families apart forever.]
  • In October 1942, when the Lisbon Maru, a Japanese transport vessel carrying over 1,800 British prisoners of war, was mistakenly torpedoed by a US submarine… local fishermen risked their lives, dodging volleys of Japanese gunfire, to rescue 384 survivors from the sea.
  • Across the UK, ordinary citizens formed aid organisations, held fundraisers, and sent donations to support the Chinese people.
  • George Hogg, a young man from Harpenden (a one-time reporter for the Manchester Guardian) [the precursor of today’s Guardian]… journeyed to China to provide schooling and shelter for displaced children, dedicating his youth, passion and ultimately his life to a just cause. His internationalist spirit remains deeply cherished by the Chinese people. 

“History has shown,” Zheng Zeguang writes, “what China and the UK can achieve when we stand together. As we commemorate this historic anniversary, China stands ready to work with the UK to carry forward the legacy of those who came before us.”

The following is the full text of the Ambassador’s article as reproduced on the website of the Chinese Embassy in London.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese people’s war of resistance against Japanese aggression and the world anti-fascist war. There will be a two-minute silence at 12 noon in the UK to honour the 80th anniversary of VJ Day. This is a moment not only for solemn remembrance, but also for reflection on the enduring bonds forged in the crucible of history—bonds that continue to resonate in our world today.

At the darkest hour of the second world war, China and the UK fought on different fronts but shared a common mission: to defend humanity against fascism and aggression. Millions of lives were lost, cities razed, and families torn apart. Yet in that darkness, courage and solidarity illuminated the way forward. The Chinese and British peoples stood shoulder to shoulder, united by sacrifice and a shared belief in freedom and justice.

Continue reading Chinese Ambassador recalls wartime solidarity between Chinese and British people

Chinese and Russian diplomats celebrate anti-fascist victory in DPRK

Chinese and Russian diplomats in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) jointly commemorated the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War on July 31.

Chinese Ambassador Wang Yajun said that 80 years ago, China and the Soviet Union fought side by side and supported each other, won the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the Great Patriotic War on their respective battlefields, and made significant historical contributions to the victory of the world anti-fascist war. In May this year, President Xi Jinping attended a celebration commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War. In September, President Putin will also attend the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

Russian Ambassador Alexander Matsegora congratulated the Chinese people on the 80th anniversary of the victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, saying that the Russian and Chinese peoples made the greatest sacrifices in the European and Pacific theatres respectively and played a decisive role in the struggle to defeat German Nazism and Japanese militarism.

The following article was originally published in Chinese on the website of the Chinese Embassy in the DPRK and has been machine translated.

On July 31, 2025, Ambassador Wang Yajun and Russian Ambassador to the DPRK Matsegora led diplomats from the Chinese and Russian embassies in the DPRK in a friendly exchange event to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. The event was attended by Minister Feng Chuntai of the Chinese Embassy in the DPRK, Defense Attaché Major General Wang Yisheng, Counsellor Gao Wu, and Counsellor Xu Feng, as well as Minister Counsellor Topeha, Defense Attaché Major General Batusov, and Political Counselor Shutov of the Russian Embassy in the DPRK.

Ambassador Wang stated that 80 years ago, China and the Soviet Union fought side by side and supported each other, achieving victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the Great Patriotic War on their respective fronts, making significant historical contributions to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War. In May of this year, President Xi Jinping attended the celebrations commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory in the Great Patriotic War. In September, President Putin will also attend the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. China is willing to work with Russia, guided by the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, to remember history, cherish the memory of the martyrs, promote a correct view of World War II history, safeguard the achievements of World War II and the post-war international order, and uphold international fairness and justice and regional peace and stability.

Ambassador Matsegora congratulated the Chinese people on the 80th anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. He stated that the Russian and Chinese peoples made the greatest sacrifices in the European and Pacific theaters, respectively, and played a decisive role in defeating German Nazism and Japanese militarism. Russia has always advocated peace and hopes to create a peaceful and stable environment for economic development and improving people’s livelihoods. The international community should work together to build a just and peaceful international order and ensure equal rights for all nations and peoples.

The two sides jointly watched a video commemorating the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the victory of Russia’s Great Patriotic War. Chinese and Russian diplomats respectively recited the poem “The Eternal Torch” and sang the song “Blood Type” to express their remembrance of history and their cherishment of peace.

Rabindranath Tagore: Enduring pioneer of India-China Friendship

Third World Solidarity organised a meeting and reception at the Royal Nawaab in west London on the evening of August 7 to honour the life and work of the Indian intellectual giant Rabindranath Tagore on the 84th anniversary of his death.

Our co-editor Keith Bennett spoke there and focused on Tagore’s anti-imperialist internationalism, with specific reference to the Soviet Union, China and Korea.

Keith noted how, on setting foot in China on April 12, 1924, Tagore said: “I do not know why coming to China seems to me like returning to my native soil. I always feel that India has been one of China’s extremely close relatives, and China and India have been enjoying time-honoured and affectionate brotherhood.”

Visiting the West Lake in Hangzhou, he wrote: “No matter how the situation changes, as guests, friends and brothers, we will always stand by you. The mountains of China and India speak the same language, the lakes have the same charming smile on their faces, and the trees in the two countries are also similar. Therefore, they feel very friendly and not at all strange.”

When paying a visit to India in June 1954, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai said, “We will never forget Tagore’s love towards China and also cannot forget Tagore’s support towards China’s national liberation movement.”

And during his visit to India in September 2014, President Xi Jinping recalled that he had read several of Tagore’s poetry collections.

When Japan launched its all-out war of aggression against China in 1937, Tagore observed with extraordinary prescience: “China is unconquerable, her civilisation has endless potential, and her people, with their unconditional loyalty to the country and unprecedented unity, are creating a new century for that country.”

The evening was introduced by Southend Labour Councillor Shahid Nadeem Sandhu, who is also the Chair of Pakistanis for Labour and Secretary General of Third World Solidarity, and chaired by Hon. Alderman Mushtaq Lasharie, Chair of Third World Solidarity. Other speakers included Ziauddin Yousafzai, the father of Malala Yousafzai, (by video link); Hounslow Labour Councillor Pritam Grewal; Rita Payne, President Emeritus of the Commonwealth Journalists Association; veteran journalist Mihir Bose, the BBC’s first sports editor and its first non-white editor; and Mian Saleem, President of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP – Greater London).

The following is the text of Keith’s speech.

I’m grateful to Third World Solidarity for giving me the opportunity to say a few words at this timely meeting to honour the life and work of Rabindranath Tagore.

Timely not least, of course, since today is exactly 84 years since he passed away.

The first non-European ever to win a Nobel Prize in any category, Tagore’s name is synonymous with the Bengal Renaissance. And, as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social activist and painter, he surely belongs among that select view to whom the accolade of polymath truly applies.

Continue reading Rabindranath Tagore: Enduring pioneer of India-China Friendship

Vietnam and China to celebrate key anniversaries

Socialist neighbours China and Vietnam have confirmed that they will exchange high level delegations on the upcoming 80th anniversaries of Vietnam’s August Revolution and National Day along with the Chinese people’s war of resistance against Japanese aggression and the world anti-fascist war.

The pledge came when Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man met with Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) of China, in Geneva, Switzerland, on July 29, on the sidelines of the Sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament (WCSP 6).

Tran Thanh Man affirmed that the Vietnamese Party, State and people highly evaluated Party General Secretary and President Xi Jinping’s recent state visit to Vietnam, calling it a historic milestone and a bright highlight in the bilateral relations in 2025.

The Vietnamese top legislator further noted that the bilateral relations have seen remarkable progress, with growing political trust between the two Parties and States, increasingly comprehensive and effective cooperation mechanisms, and closer legislative ties. He informed his Chinese counterpart that the Vietnamese National Assembly is actively preparing for the first session of the Vietnam–China Inter-Parliamentary Committee and expressed his hope to welcome Chairman Zhao to Vietnam to co-chair this important event.

Both sides shared delight at the upcoming participation of senior leaders from the two countries in the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of Vietnam’s August Revolution and National Day, as well as the 80th anniversary of the Chinese people’s victory against fascism.

The next day Vietnam’s Nhân Dân newspaper reported that the first joint army training exercise of the Vietnamese and Chinese ground forces had wrapped up at the Jianglong Chongzuo Training Base in China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on July 30.

The exercise, which ran from July 21-30, focused on major military disciplines such as reconnaissance, camouflage, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations, marksmanship, medical aid, chemical defence, field logistics, and coordinated tactical operations. In particular, the UAV exercises involved six practical combat scenarios in mountainous terrain, enhancing reconnaissance, strike, and rescue capabilities while improving coordination between the two forces. Cultural and sports exchanges within the program, including basketball, table tennis, chess, calligraphy, traditional medicine, and artistic performances, also helped strengthen mutual understanding and trust.

Earlier, on July 7, China Daily reported that a four-day exchange program, held under the theme “Youth Uniting for the Future”, was jointly organised by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Guizhou Provincial Committee and China Daily, bringing together Chinese and Vietnamese youth delegates, along with Vietnamese experts.

The event was part of broader efforts to implement agreements reached by the top leaders of China and Vietnam. In April, President Xi Jinping proposed inviting Vietnamese youths to China for “Red Study Tours” over the next three years to strengthen bilateral ties.

Continue reading Vietnam and China to celebrate key anniversaries

DPRK honours Chinese internationalists on war anniversary

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) celebrated the 72nd anniversary of victory in the Fatherland Liberation War on July 27. This was the date when an armistice agreement was signed ending the fighting that had raged on the Korean peninsula since June 25, 1950.

General Mark Clark, the US commander, admitted that: “In carrying out the instructions of my government, I gained the unenviable distinction of being the first United States commander in history to sign an armistice without victory.”

Malcolm X, the African-American revolutionary leader, said: “Any time Uncle Sam, with all his machinery for warfare, is held to a draw by some rice eaters, he’s lost the battle.” In his ‘The Ballot or the Bullet’ (April 12, 1964), Malcolm noted in his inimitable style:

“Why some rice farmers, some rice farmers, some rice eaters ran him out of Korea. Yes, they ran him out of Korea. Rice eaters with nothing but gym shoes, and a rifle, and a bowl of rice took him and his tanks and his napalm, and all that other action he’s supposed to have and ran him across the Yalu.”

DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un participated in a number of functions to mark this year’s anniversary.

On July 26, he visited the Friendship Tower, which stands in the centre of the capital Pyongyang and honours the martyrs of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army, who gave their lives in what is known in China as the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.

Presenting a wreath, Kim Jong Un said that we will never forget the combat feats and merits of the fallen fighters of the Chinese People’s Volunteers recorded in the history of the great victory in the Fatherland Liberation War.

The previous day, Chinese Ambassador Wang Yajun led a large team to visit the Chinese Volunteers Martyrs’ Cemetery in North Pyongan Province.

The administrator of the DPRK cemetery gave a briefing on the restoration and protection of the martyrs’ tombs and said that President Kim Il Sung had instructed that the cemetery should be built in a beautiful place and at a time of commemorative significance. On important holidays, the DPRK people come to pay their respects to the martyrs of the volunteers. As a member of the younger generation, I have been taught by the DPRK Party and government since I was a child that the traditional friendship between the DPRK and China is unbreakable, and I will continue to do my best to maintain and manage the cemetery and contribute to the inheritance of the DPRK-China friendship.

Ambassador Wang thanked the DPRK Party and Government for attaching importance to the restoration and protection of the martyrs’ tombs of the Chinese People’s Volunteers and said that the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK is cemented with blood and is a precious wealth shared by both sides. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Chinese People’s Volunteers going abroad to fight to resist US aggression and aid Korea, and it is believed that under the strategic guidance of the top leaders of the two parties and two countries, the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK will surely achieve greater development and make greater contributions to safeguarding regional peace and benefiting the two peoples.

The same day, the ambassador visited Pyeoncheon City, South Pyongan Province to pay tribute to the martyrs of the volunteers who died in the Songgu Peak Blockade.

The DPRK personnel gave a detailed account of the situation in the Songgu Peak Blockade Battle, and said that the Chinese People’s Volunteers held high the banner of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea and defending the homeland and the country, united with the DPRK army and people, fought together, and defended the DPRK as if it were their own motherland. It was precisely this spirit that turned into a shield to resist aggression and a sharp sword for launching an attack, and more than 100 officers and men of the Chinese Volunteers were able to resist the repeated attacks of the US military and the wanton and indiscriminate bombardment of aircraft and artillery and fight until the last moment. The Korean people will always remember the great sacrifices of the Chinese People’s Volunteers.

Ambassador Wang said that the Chinese People’s Volunteers fought side by side with the DPRK military and civilians, braved hardships and dangers, made great sacrifices, and made indelible and important contributions to the victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. We must pass on the spirit of Songgufeng from generation to generation, continue to consolidate and develop the friendship between China and the DPRK, work together to overcome challenges, and contribute to the socialist construction of the two countries and regional peace and stability.

Previously, on July 22, the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang held a reception to celebrate the 98th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

On behalf of all officers and men of the Korean People’s Army, Deputy Director Pak Yong Il warmly congratulated the 98th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, saying that the DPRK and Chinese armies have joined hands to resist the imperialist invaders in many wars and fought side by side in the same trenches, creating a shining example of friendship and unity. The DPRK is willing to work with China to provide a solid guarantee for the development of friendly relations between them and of the great cause of socialism in the two countries in accordance with the lofty will of the two parties.

On July 18, Ambassador Wang led diplomats from his embassy to visit the Chongsang-ri Cooperative Farm near Nampo City. This is the most famous farm in the DPRK as the country’s founding leader Kim Il Sung visited it a total of 91 times and put forward the basic principles for guiding the development of socialist agriculture and rural development in the DPRK, known as the ‘Chongsan-ri spirit’ and the ‘Chongsang-ri method’.

Continue reading DPRK honours Chinese internationalists on war anniversary

Vietnam to honour China and other traditional friends on 80th national day

Vietnam’s National Defence Ministry has invited the military of five countries – Russia China, Laos, Cambodia, and Belarus – to join the parade in the ceremony marking the 80th August Revolution Day and the 80th National Day, to be held on September 2 in the capital Hanoi.

The ministry has also sent invitations to defence ministers of eight countries – Russia, China, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan – to attend the ceremony, according to Deputy Minister, Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien.

The Vietnam News Service reported on July 10 that the invitation of military units to participate in the parade is a gesture of friendship, solidarity and the close bonds between the people and army of Vietnam and their traditional allies and further noted that on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the South and National Reunification (April 30 2025), the defence ministries of China, Laos and Cambodia sent military personnel to take part in the parade held in Ho Chi Minh City. This was the first time for Vietnam to invite foreign troops to participate in a national military parade.

Also on July 10, the defence ministry held a meeting with relevant bodies to expedite the construction of a monument dedicated to the soldiers from foreign countries who supported Vietnam during its resistance wars, to be located at the Vietnam Military History Museum.

The memorial complex will include a general symbol commemorating the support and sacrifices of foreign military experts, made of bronze and designed by Vietnam, as well as separate monuments honouring military experts from the Soviet Union/Russia, China, Laos, Cambodia and Cuba, also made of bronze, that will be either designed and constructed by the respective countries or by Vietnam upon request, and a greenstone relief designed and built by Vietnam.

The following article was originally published in Vietnam News.

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s National Defence Ministry has invited the military of five countries – Russia, China, Laos, Cambodia, and Belarus – to join the parade in the ceremony marking the 80th August Revolution Day and National Day on September 2 in Hà Nội.

The ministry has also sent invitations to defence ministers of eight countries of Russia, China, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan to attend the ceremony, according to Deputy Minister, Senior Lieutenant General Hoàng Xuân Chiến.

So far, Cuba has responded to the invitation, confirming that the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba will attend the ceremony.

Laos and Cambodia have also expressed their support for the initiative to send military forces to participate in the parade at the celebration, as per Việt Nam’s invitation.

The invitation of military units to participate in the parade is a gesture of friendship, solidarity and close bonds between the people and army of Việt Nam and its traditional allies.

The move also reaffirms Việt Nam’s foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, diversification and multilateralism — being a reliable partner and friend to all nations.

Previously, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification (April 2025), the defence ministries of China, Laos and Cambodia sent military personnel to take part in Việt Nam’s military parade.

On the same day, the defence ministry held a meeting with agencies and units to implement the construction of a monument dedicated to the soldiers from foreign countries who supported Việt Nam during its resistance wars, to be located at the Việt Nam Military History Museum.

This commemorative project carries great significance, paying tribute to foreign military experts and soldiers who assisted Việt Nam in its wars of national liberation.

The memorial complex will include a general symbol commemorating the support and sacrifices of foreign military experts, made of bronze and designed by Việt Nam; separate monuments honouring military experts from the Soviet Union/Russia, China, Laos, Cambodia and Cuba, also made of bronze that will be either designed and constructed by the respective countries or by Việt Nam upon request; and a greenstone relief designed and built by Việt Nam.

The area surrounding the monument will be landscaped with trees and grass lawns.

Chiến has instructed that construction progress be expedited. The first group of statues must be completed before August 15, while the entrance and central exhibition area should be finished by August 10.

China and DPRK mark treaty anniversary

The 64th anniversary of the signing of the China-DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance was celebrated in Pyongyang and Beijing on July 8th and 10th respectively.

The Xinhua News Agency reported that, addressing the reception held at his embassy, Chinese Ambassador to the DPRK Wang Yajun said that the treaty embodies the friendship the two peoples built with their blood in the process of resisting foreign aggression and striving for national independence and liberation and lays a solid legal and political foundation for the long-term development of bilateral relations.

He added that at the moment when changes in the global landscape unseen in a century are going deeper, highlighted by intertwined chaos and ever emerging risks and challenges, it is of great significance to well implement the spirit of the treaty and well develop bilateral ties.

In his address at the event, Kang Yun Sok, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK, said that the bilateral treaty lays a solid legal foundation for the continuous consolidation and development of the friendly and cooperative relations between the DPRK and China amid any changes and challenges.

The DPRK-China friendship was jointly forged by the two countries’ older generations of leadership in striving to fight imperialism, achieve independence and build socialism, he said, noting that it is the DPRK’s unwavering stance to pass on and deepen the friendship with China from generation to generation.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) also carried a report on the reception.

China’s People’s Daily reported that Wang Dongming, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), attended a reception on July 10 to commemorate the 64th anniversary of the signing of the treaty hosted by DPRK Ambassador to China Ri Yong Nam.

KCNA noted the large number of Chinese institutions who participated in the reception.

On July 11, People’s Daily carried a commentary saying that: “On July 11, 1961, Premier Zhou Enlai and Prime Minister Kim Il Sung jointly signed the Sino-DPRK Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Beijing. This important document has laid a political and legal foundation for the development of friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries and embodies the common desire of the two sides to inherit and carry forward the traditional friendship and safeguard regional peace.

It added: “In recent years, General Secretary Xi Jinping and General Secretary Kim Jong Un have maintained close exchanges and interactions through various forms, leading and promoting the traditional friendly and cooperative relations between China and the DPRK into a new historical period. China and the DPRK have adhered to the original aspiration of friendship for generations, strengthened strategic communication, exchanges and cooperation, firmly supported each other, and safeguarded the common interests of the two countries, fully demonstrating the unbreakable and vigorous vitality of the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK.”

Under the leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) headed by General Secretary Kim Jong Un, it continued, the DPRK people have actively implemented the spirit of the previous plenary sessions of the Central Committee of the WPK and comprehensively promoted all work of socialist construction. As a good comrade and good neighbour, the Chinese side sincerely wishes that the fraternal DPRK people will continue to make new and greater achievements in the cause of socialist construction.

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. During the arduous war years, the peoples of China and the DPRK supported each other, fought side by side, and made important contributions to the just cause of humanity. It is the firm stand of the Chinese party and government to maintain, consolidate and develop China-DPRK relations.

The following articles were originally published by the Xinhua News Agency and People’s Daily. The People’s Daily commentary was published in Chinese and has been machine translated.

Chinese embassy marks 64th anniversary of signing of China-DPRK friendship treaty

PYONGYANG, July 10 (Xinhua) — The Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang on Wednesday held a reception to commemorate the 64th anniversary of the signing of the China-DPRK Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance.

Over 130 diplomats and officials from both sides attended the event.

Addressing the reception, Chinese Ambassador to the DPRK Wang Yajun said the bilateral treaty is a document of historical significance as well as a monument marking the friendship between China and the DPRK.

Continue reading China and DPRK mark treaty anniversary

Liberation movement ties recalled and carried forward

China’s diplomatic missions in South Africa and Tanzania have recently highlighted the historical legacy and continued relevance of the bonds of solidarity forged during the struggle for national liberation.

On 17 June, Pan Qingjiang, China’s Consul General in Johannesburg, published an article entitled “Driving Education Culture, Fostering Youth Friendship Between China and South Africa” in various major South African media outlets.

According to an article published by the South African Government News Agency: “In South Africa, Youth Month is celebrated every June following a declaration by our first democratic President, Tata Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. It is a time when we collectively honour the pivotal role that young people played in the struggle against Apartheid and the historic Soweto Uprising of 1976. Every 16 June, as we mark National Youth Day, we not only remember the sacrifices and courage of those young people, but we also renew our commitment to equipping today’s youth for a vibrant future.”

Pan writes: “On the occasion of South Africa’s Youth Month, I wish to extend my sincere festive greetings to all our young friends. The youth are the future of nations and the future of China-South Africa friendship as well… Our nations, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of South Africa, enjoy traditional friendship characterised by a strong ‘comradeship plus brotherhood’ bond…. The shared history and common future between China and South Africa are the solid foundation and driving force for the friendship among our youths.

“In June last year, the Consulate General of China in Johannesburg organised a themed short video competition for secondary school learners, encouraging the youth to reflect on both South Africa’s 1976 Soweto Uprising and China’s May Fourth Movement. More than one hundred participants from over twenty schools in Gauteng and the Free State submitted their creative entries in a variety of creative forms, including drama, speech, song, and dance, which vividly portrayed the heroic struggles of both countries against colonial oppression.

“Together, we paid tribute to, learned, and gained strength from the shared legacy of Chinese and South African youth in their pursuit of freedom, justice, and progress.”

The 1976 Soweto Uprising, led by the township youth, spread like a prairie fire across South Africa. Its brutal repression led thousands of young people to leave home and join the ranks of the African National Congress (ANC) and the other liberation movements waging armed struggle against the apartheid regime. It is considered a key turning point in the fight for a free South Africa.

China’s May Fourth Movement, a student-led anti-imperialist uprising, was sparked by the capitulation of the Chinese government to the humiliating terms imposed by the imperialist powers meeting at the 1919 Versailles peace conference. Together with the influence of the October Revolution in Russia, it played a major role in preparing for the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) two years later. Key founders of the CPC, Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu were central leaders of the May Fourth Movement.

After detailing a number of current educational and cultural exchanges between South Africa and China, Pan’s article concludes:

“Like the rising sun, the youth brings brilliant prospects. China and South Africa are bound together by shared history, common developmental tasks and strategic interests. The youth serves as the vanguard in building a high-level China-South Africa community with a shared future and advancing our all-round strategic cooperative partnership in the new era.”

Earlier, on May 28, China’s Ambassador to Tanzania, Chen Mingjian visited the African Liberation Movement Freedom Fighters Kongwa Camp, together with officials from the Tanzanian government and the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (Revolutionary Party of Tanzania).

The two sides reflected on China’s contributions to Tanzania’s independence and the national liberation of southern Africa, and agreed to strengthen historical sites protection and inheritance, and to promote inter-party and sub-national cooperation between the two countries.

District Council Chairman White Zuberi, who witnessed the national liberation movement, showed Ambassador Chen around the camp and, together with her, recalled the glorious history of mutual support between China and Africa. The camp was built in 1964 and both Mozambique’s founding President Samora Machel and Namibia’s founding President Sam Nujoma were trained there.

The following articles were originally published on the websites of the Chinese Consulate General in Johannesburg and the Chinese Embassy in Tanzania. They are reproduced here from that of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Chinese Consul General in Johannesburg Pan Qingjiang Publishes Signed Article Titled Driving Education Culture, Fostering Youth Friendship Between China and South Africa

June 17 (MFA) — On 17 June, Consul General Pan Qingjiang published a signed article entitled “Driving Education Culture,Fostering Youth Friendship Between China and South Africa” in the mainstream media of South Africa, including the Star, the Mercury, the Cape Times and the IOL website. Full text below:

On the occasion of South Africa’s Youth Month, I wish to extend my sincere festive greetings to all our young friends. The youth are the future of nations and the future of China-South Africa friendship as well. I have been deeply impressed by the confidence, optimism, and ingenuity of the young South African people.

Our nations, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of South Africa, enjoy traditional friendship characterized by a strong “comradeship plus brotherhood” bond.

Continue reading Liberation movement ties recalled and carried forward

China and Vietnam jointly promote Red Tourism

The Vietnamese newspaper Nhân Dân recently reported that an exhibition on President Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary career in China has been jointly organised by the Guangdong Museum of Revolutionary History of China and the Ho Chi Minh Museum of Viet Nam as part of the activities to celebrate the 75th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations and the Year of People-to-People Exchange between the two countries.

During his journey to seek a path for liberating the nation, the paper notes, President Ho Chi Minh spent many years in China, including an extremely important period in Guangzhou, Guangdong province from 1924-1927. During this time, he established the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth League, the predecessor of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), and organised training courses to prepare cadres and build the organisational structure, creating the ideal conditions for the founding of the party.

The exhibition retraces the late Vietnamese leader’s 12 years of revolutionary activities in China and emphasises that, under the leadership of President Ho Chi Minh, Chairman Mao Zedong, and other pioneering leaders, the people of Vietnam and China stood together, enduring hardships in their struggles for independence and national liberation. The friendship as comrades plus brothers between Vietnam and China remains a valuable legacy for both nations and will endure for future generations.

Historical sites, it continues, associated with the revolutionary career of President Ho Chi Minh in China are evidence of his revolutionary journey and serve as important landmarks of Vietnam-China friendship. The Chinese government attaches great importance to preserving these sites, having restored and protected them to enhance their historical value. Today, they serve as “red addresses” – destinations for revolutionary education and people-to-people exchanges, especially among younger generations. The exhibition is scheduled to be held on a rotating basis at several museums in both Vietnam and China.

In a separate article, Nhân Dân reports on the mutual ‘red tourism’ by young people from the two socialist neighbours.

It writes that during her first visit to Vietnam to attend the Vietnam-China Youth Friendship Meeting in April, Huang Chenshen from the China Youth University for Political Studies had listened to speeches by Chinese Party General Secretary Xi Jinping and Vietnamese Party General Secretary To Lam, visited Quang Ninh and Ninh Binh provinces, and explored the local culture. What impressed her most was experiencing the cultural life of Vietnam’s ethnic minorities.

The “Red Study Tour” programme of visits to China was proposed by Xi during his April visit to Vietnam. It links together historical sites associated with President Ho Chi Minh and former Chinese leaders, serving as a “living history classroom” that fosters a spirit of solidarity and a shared sense of responsibility among young people for peace and development.

Nguyen Thi Phuong Hoa, former Deputy Director of the Institute for Chinese Studies and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Chinese Studies Journal, said that the content of youth exchanges has become increasingly diverse, shifting from general forums to more practical, thematic discussions closely tied to the role of young people in national development and innovation.

The first tour visited China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in May, with the theme, “Following President Ho Chi Minh’s Footsteps”. In addition to visiting historical sites, Guangxi also organised activities for the young delegates to experience artificial intelligence technology and the digital environment. Vietnamese participants were able to visit a robotics lab, experience high-speed train travel, and explore advanced technological applications.

The following articles were originally published by Nhân Dân.

Exhibition spotlights President Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary career in China

June 30 (Nhân Dân) — An exhibition on President Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary career in China has been jointly held by the Guangdong Museum of Revolutionary History of China and the Ho Chi Minh Museum of Viet Nam as part of activities to celebrate the 75th founding anniversary of diplomatic relations and the Year of Humanistic Exchange 2025 between the two nations.

Continue reading China and Vietnam jointly promote Red Tourism

Algerian veterans recall Chinese support to liberation struggle

The Xinhua News Agency recently carried interviews with two veterans of the Algerian liberation struggle regarding the support and training they received from China.

The article states: “In the heat of the Algerian War of Independence in the 1950s, when colonial repression was at its peak and international support was scarce, a distant nation opened its arms to a group of determined young Algerians, training them as soldiers in their quest for national independence. And that nation was the newly founded People’s Republic of China.”

It notes that, after officially recognizing the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic in September 1958, China hosted 27 Algerian trainees for comprehensive aviation training between 1959 and 1961. More than six decades later, the memories of this experience, which exemplify the long-standing friendship between China and Algeria, remain vivid in the hearts of the veterans.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Boudaoud Lounes and Colonel Drid Ahmed Lakhdar, two of the Algerian airmen who trained in China, shared their story of sacrifice, solidarity, and a bond that has endured across generations.

Lounes, a former bomber pilot, was among the very first Algerian airmen trained in China during the height of the War of Independence. “We first received basic training in Syria, at the Aleppo military school,” Lounes recalled. “But for our specialization, only one country answered our call: China.” Arriving in China: “We saw immediately the parallels between the Chinese people’s struggles and those of our own people. What touched us most wasn’t just the military knowledge. It was the way they believed in us. We were treated with respect, as equals. In China, we felt like brothers.”

Lakhdar joined the second batch of Algerian air trainees sent to China in 1959. He said: “The Chinese know what it means to be colonized. Their commitment came from their own experience.”

His words echo those of the African-American scholar and revolutionary Dr. WEB Du Bois, speaking in Beijing in 1959 on his 91st birthday:

“China is flesh of your flesh, and blood of your blood. China is colored and knows to what a colored skin in this modern world subjects its owner. But China knows more, much more than this: she knows what to do about it.”

More than 60 years later, Lakhdar recalls when the time came to leave China:

“When we completed our training and went to thank the Chinese Defense Ministry, they told us, ‘no, we must thank you. You opened a front in Africa and freed us from encirclement.’ I will never forget that moment, as it showed how our struggle was part of something bigger. The sense of duty, humility, and collective spirit I learned in China stayed with me for life. I tried to pass it on to younger generations.”

Continue reading Algerian veterans recall Chinese support to liberation struggle

Chinese scholar lauds Vietnam’s revolutionary press

A solemn ceremony was held in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on June 21 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Vietnamese Revolutionary Press Day (June 21, 1925-2025).

Addressing the meeting, Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, and Chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Communications, Education and Mass Mobilisation  of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Trong Nghia said that the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Vietnamese Revolutionary Press Day is an opportunity to review and multiply the pride, respect, and infinite gratitude towards President Ho Chi Minh – the founder, leader, trainer and great teacher of the Vietnamese revolutionary press. It is an occasion to show the pride of and gratitude to outstanding and exemplary leaders, revolutionary soldiers, and senior journalists; remember generations of journalists who directly fought and heroically sacrificed during the resistance wars against the French colonialists and US imperialists; and to express gratitude for the contributions of generations of journalists and soldiers who have raised high the Party’s ideological flag.

Emphasising that the 100-year journey of the Vietnamese revolutionary press has marked the efforts, achievements, lessons, challenges, ups and downs, and aspirations to move forward, Nghia affirmed that over the past century, the Vietnamese revolutionary press has always been steadfast, loyal, and devoted to the noble revolutionary cause of the Party, the nation, and the people.

In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency to mark the occasion, Li Minghan, an intellectual from China’s Hong Kong who has devoted most of his life to studying President Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary career, described “Thanh Nien” (Young People) newspaper, which laid the foundation for Vietnam’s revolutionary journalism a century ago, as a modest publication with great responsibility and mission.

Li said that President Ho Chi Minh, drawing from his experience in the French communist movement and his role in founding the Le Paria (The Pariah) newspaper in Paris in 1922 to expose colonial crimes and unite the global anti-colonial struggle, understood the power of revolutionary journalism as a tool to popularise, mobilise, organise, and lead revolutionary movements. During his stay in China’s Guangzhou city from 1924 to 1927 to prepare for the establishment of a Communist Party to lead Vietnam’s revolution, President Ho Chi Minh founded “Thanh Nien” newspaper and released its first issue on June 21, 1925. Li said that despite its small format and simple design and printing, the newspaper carried immense responsibility and mission, contributing to the establishment of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the decisive factor in the success of the country’s revolution in the past, today, and in the future.

Today, original copies of the early issues are on display at the relic site of the headquarters of the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League in Guangzhou city. An exhibition spotlighting the time President Ho Chi Minh spent in China is being held from May 10 to August 10 at the Guangzhou Uprising Memorial Hall, featuring a dedicated display of copies of Thanh Nien.

The following article was originally published by Nhân Dân.

Li Minghan, an intellectual from China’s Hong Kong who has devoted most of his life studying President Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary career, described “Thanh nien” (Young people) newspaper, which laid foundation for Viet Nam’s revolutionary journalism a century ago, as a modest publication with great responsibility and mission.

In an interview with the Viet Nam News Agency on the occasion of Viet Nam’s Revolutionary Press Day (June 21), Li said that President Ho Chi Minh, drawing from his experience in the French communist movement and his role in founding the Le Paria (The Miserable) newspaper in Paris in 1922 to expose colonial crimes and unite the global anti-colonial struggle, understood the power of revolutionary journalism as a tool to popularise, mobilise, organise, and lead revolutionary movements.

During his stay in China’s Guangzhou city from 1924 to 1927 to prepare for the establishment of a Communist Party to lead Viet Nam’s revolution, President Ho Chi Minh founded “Thanh nien” newspaper and released its first issue on June 21, 1925. Li said that despite its small format and simple design and printing, the newspaper carried immense responsibility and mission, contributing to the establishment of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, the decisive factor in the success of the country’s revolution in the past, today, and in the future.

The newspaper was printed on a compact 18×24 cm paper size, with simple design and clear content.

Between June 21, 1925, and April 17, 1927, the newspaper published a total of 88 issues, with 100 copies of each edition distributed to Viet Nam by sailors, providing information and building solidarity within Viet Nam’s revolutionary movement and connecting it with communist movements in the region and the world.

Today, original copies of the early issues are on display at the relic site of the headquarters of the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League in Guangzhou city, Guangzhong province.

An exhibition spotlighting the time President Ho Chi Minh in China is taking place from May 10 to August 10 at the Guangzhou Uprising Memorial Hall, featuring a dedicated display of reproduced copies of Thanh Nien newspaper’s issues No. 63, 66, and 67. The event is held in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Viet Nam – China diplomatic relations and the Year of China-Viet Nam Humanistic Exchange 2025.

Xi Jinping commemorates revolutionary forerunner Chen Yun

At a meeting held on June 13 in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for learning from veteran leader Chen Yun and carrying forward his legacy.

Xi, who is also the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, acclaimed Chen Yun as a great proletarian revolutionary and statesman, and as one of the founding figures of the country’s socialist economy. He was a key member of both the Party’s first generation of central collective leadership with Mao Zedong at the core and the second generation of central collective leadership with Deng Xiaoping at the core.

Chen was born in 1905 and joined the Party in 1925. He died in 1995 at the age of 90.

Among the key points made by Xi Jinping in his address were:

  • Comrade Chen Yun was a great proletarian revolutionary, statesman, and outstanding Marxist, one of the founders and builders of China’s socialist economic construction, an outstanding leader of the party and the country who had been tested for a long time, and an important member of the party’s first-generation central leadership collective with Comrade Mao Zedong at the core and the party’s second-generation central leadership collective with Comrade Deng Xiaoping at the core, who had made major contributions to the development of the cause of the party and the people.
  • Comrade Chen Yun joined the Communist Party of China in 1925, and in his 70-year revolutionary career, he experienced many major events in which our party led the people in revolution, construction, and reform, participated in the formulation and organization of a series of major policy decisions made by the party Central Committee in different historical periods, and devoted his whole life to the development and victory of the new democratic revolution, the establishment and consolidation of China’s socialist system, and the pioneering and development of China’s reform, opening up, and socialist modernization.
  • During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, Comrade Chen Yun threw himself into the workers’ movement in the torrent of the Great Revolution and grew up to become a leader of the workers’ movement in the course of practical struggles. He took part in the Red Army’s Long March, firmly supported Comrade Mao Zedong’s correct propositions at the Zunyi Conference and supported the conference in establishing the correct leadership represented by Comrade Mao Zedong.
  • He participated in the leadership of the liberation of Northeast China and led the Northeast Base Area to take the lead in restoring the economy and supporting the national liberation war. He instructed cadres to “always pay attention to the new situation, new tasks, and new work methods in the new areas” and not to “mechanically apply the old experience of the old liberated areas to the new areas,” thus exploring useful experiences for our party to shift from war to peaceful construction.
  • During the period of socialist revolution and construction, Comrade Chen Yun was appointed to preside over and lead the nation’s financial and economic work at the beginning of the founding of New China, and under the leadership of the party Central Committee, he coordinated the forces from all quarters to win the “economic war” in the fields of grain, cotton, cotton cloth, and coal, and achieved national financial and economic unification in less than a year, stabilized financial prices, and economically consolidated the nascent people’s political power.
  • He opposed impatient and reckless progress in disregard of the actual conditions and the rush to achieve results, discovered the problems brought about by the “Great Leap Forward” at an early stage, participated in the deployment and leadership of the readjustment of the national economy, and paid special attention to solving the problems of agricultural difficulties and food shortages, thus playing an important role in extricating the national economy and the people’s livelihood from their predicament.
  • At a major historical juncture, he resolutely supported the reform and opening up advocated by Comrade Deng Xiaoping and resolutely upheld Comrade Deng Xiaoping’s position as the core of the central leadership collective and the authority of the party Central Committee. He actively promoted the peaceful reversal of unjust, false and wrongly decided cases, put forward important opinions on the drafting of the “Resolution on Several Historical Issues of the Party Since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China,” and supported Comrade Deng Xiaoping’s correct proposition on scientifically establishing Comrade Mao Zedong’s historical status and upholding and developing Mao Zedong Thought.
  • We should learn from Comrade Chen Yun’s lofty spiritual demeanour. He said: “The most pleasant thing for a person is to participate in the revolution and fight for the interests of the people. Anyone who leaves the people and the party cannot accomplish anything.” At critical moments, he always adhered to the correct political position and clearly showed his attitude. When the development of the party’s cause encountered difficulties, he was always able to keep a clear head, put forward unique views on the basis of careful consideration, and came up with effective ways to solve problems.
  • In the new era and new journey, we must strengthen our ideals and beliefs, establish confidence in victory, maintain political determination in the face of chaos and complexity, and not be afraid of clouds to cover our eyes. It is necessary to consciously practice the fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly, stand firmly on the people’s position, cultivate the feelings of the people, take the mass line of the party in the new era, investigate the people’s feelings, listen to the people’s voices, obey the people’s will, solve the people’s worries, and closely rely on the people to create historical achievements.
  • In the area of being in charge of economic work, Comrade Chen Yun put forward many important viewpoints and major measures and explored effective ways to creatively solve problems and open up the work situation. In the process of presiding over the formulation and implementation of the first five-year plan, he not only paid attention to learning from the experience of the Soviet Union, but also insisted on proceeding from China’s national conditions, making scientific arrangements, and steadily promoting socialist industrialization.
  • After the socialist transformation was basically completed, he actively explored the socialist economic system and economic system that suited the development of China’s productive forces and put forward the idea of “three main bodies and three supplements,” which provided important enlightenment for overcoming the shortcomings of the Soviet model.
  • After the reform and opening up, he profoundly summed up the positive and negative experiences of socialist economic construction and proposed that “the economic construction that our country is carrying out now is socialist economic construction, and the reform of the economic system is also the reform of the socialist economic system”
  • He stressed that vigorously cultivating and selecting tens of thousands of middle-aged and young cadres with both ability and political integrity is a strategic task that determines the future of the party and the country, and it is necessary to persist in combining the old, middle-aged and young cadres, maintain the continuity and stability of the contingent of cadres, and ensure that the party’s leadership is always in the hands of Marxists.
  • He stressed the need to vigorously promote those cadres who have strong party spirit, upright work style, and the courage to uphold principles, and actively support and implement the policy of making the contingent of cadres more revolutionary, younger, more knowledgeable, and more professional.
  • He pointed out: “The Communist Party must uphold party discipline at all times, whether it is working underground or in power.”
  • He put forward the important thesis that “the issue of the party style of the ruling party is an issue related to the life and death of the party,” stressing that “the issue of party style must be tackled with great attention and forever.” In order to maintain the flesh-and-blood ties between the party and the masses of the people, it is necessary to properly resolve the two key issues of earnestly safeguarding the people’s vital interests and resolutely opposing unhealthy tendencies within the party.
  • We should study Comrade Chen Yun’s scientific thinking and work methods. Persisting in seeking truth from facts is a distinctive characteristic of Comrade Chen Yun.
  • He regarded investigation and study as an important prerequisite for policy decision-making, stressing: “Leading organs should devote more than 90 percent of their time to investigation and study in formulating policies.”
  • In the new era and new journey, it is necessary to improve the quality of investigation and study, and through various channels and methods, accurately grasp the new situation, new problems, and new trends in economic and social development, accurately grasp the needs of the grassroots and the expectations of the masses and make policy decisions more in line with reality and the wishes of the masses.

A number of other speakers also addressed the meeting.

Continue reading Xi Jinping commemorates revolutionary forerunner Chen Yun

Tiananmen Square, 1989: The truth comes out, eventually

In the following article for the Morning Star, Dan Ross challenges the mainstream Western narrative of the 1989 Tiananmen Square events. Rather than being a “massacre of thousands of unarmed students”, as is typically presented, Dan argues that what occurred was a complex confrontation between the Chinese military and radicalised protesters, many of whom were armed.

Dan draws on contemporaneous coverage from The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal and other eyewitness sources to show that China’s authorities, after two months of Beijing being brought practically to a standstill, and with lengthy negotiations not bearing fruit, decided to peacefully disperse the protests. “Unarmed soldiers entered the square to begin the dispersal”, whereupon “they were set upon by groups of co-ordinated and armed protesters that remained, as was openly reported on at the time. Many dozens of soldiers are known to have been killed, as grisly images of lynched and burned soldiers from the events attest”.

The violence can accurately be described as clashes between armed protesters and soldiers, not a massacre of unarmed civilians on the Square.

The Western propaganda machine lost no time in spinning the story as a vicious attack by an authoritarian state on freedom-loving unarmed protestors. Dan writes:

It should come as no surprise that this co-ordinated propaganda campaign took place concurrently with the fall of socialism across central and eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The US, then as now, remains committed to undermining and destroying Chinese socialism, and has relied heavily upon thinly veiled, CIA-sponsored bodies like Radio Free Asia, National Endowment for Democracy, and the fanatical anti-communist and fantasist Adrian Zenz, with the sole objective of bringing about the fall and disintegration of China, much as happened to the former USSR and Yugoslavia.

Ultimately, the article calls on readers to question the mainstream narrative of the “Tiananmen Massacre”, pointing out that it is just another piece of crass anti-China and anti-communist propaganda.

“As columns of tanks and tens of thousands of soldiers approached Tiananmen, many troops were set on by angry mobs… dozens of soldiers were pulled from trucks, severely beaten and left for dead.

“At an intersection west of the square, the body of a young soldier, who had been beaten to death, was stripped naked and hung from the side of a bus.  Another soldier’s corpse was strung at an intersection east of the square.”

“Radicalised protesters, some now armed with guns, and vehicles commandeered in clashes with the military.”

“Other scenes show soldiers’ corpses and demonstrators stripping automatic rifles off unresisting soldiers.”

These accounts are taken, not from the official version of the Chinese government, but from the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal in the immediate aftermath of the events of June 4 1989.

As the US, its allies, and cheerleaders in the media step up their campaign of anti-communist and Sinophobic rhetoric in the growing cold war against China, we can expect to hear an altogether different — if more familiar — narrative about the “massacre” of thousands of innocent students in a “brutal authoritarian crackdown” this week.

The “events” in fact began two months earlier in April, when students gathered — somewhat ironically — to mourn and commemorate the passing of a senior Communist Party leader, Hu Yaobang, later joined by workers — again ironically — concerned by the inflationary effects of market-liberalising economic reforms.

Beijing’s iconic central square, and much of the city, was all but paralysed for weeks. Following lengthy but failed attempts at a negotiated settlement between the government and student leaders (presenting disparate and undefined demands) and no end in sight to the paralysis of the capital, the authorities eventually ordered the peaceful dispersal of the crowds from the square, that was largely was achieved by June 3.

Individual accounts of army snipers and soldiers gunning down fleeing students have been discredited both by a far greater number of eyewitnesses contradicting it, including US journalists (such as the Washington Post’s Jay Matthews), and television footage of an orderly dispersal. Spanish television network TVE had a camera crew on the square covering events, and reported no evidence of a massacre.

No doubt the image of the infamous “tank man” has sprung to your mind; it is well worth watching the footage to the end: the outcome might surprise you!

When soldiers — unarmed — originally entered the square to begin the dispersal, they were set upon by groups of co-ordinated and armed protesters that remained, as was openly reported on at the time. Many dozens of soldiers are known to have been killed, as grisly images of lynched and burned soldiers from the events attest.

Much of the subsequent violence occurred following the dispersal, between June 4-5, and took place elsewhere across the city, rather than on the square itself. The violence can accurately be described as clashes between armed protesters and soldiers, not a massacre of unarmed civilians on the Square.

Continue reading Tiananmen Square, 1989: The truth comes out, eventually

Remarks marking the 26th anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia

Several hundred people packed the Bishop Nikolaj Community Centre in West London on the evening of Saturday May 24 for a remembrance and discussion event marking 26 years since NATO’s war of aggression against Serbia and the former Yugoslavia, organised by the Round Table of Serbian organisations and community groups in the United Kingdom. Among those present were Serbian Ambassador Goran Aleksić, diplomats from the Belarus Embassy and journalists from the Xinhua News Agency and China Daily.

The meeting was preceded by a memorial service in the adjacent Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint Sava, where prayers offered included those for the three Chinese journalists killed when US-led NATO bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.

A panel discussion, chaired by retired academic Michael Stenton, featured Misha Gavrilović and Marko Gasić, co-chairs of the British-Serbian Alliance for Peace; Dr. Kate Hudson, Vice-President of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and author of ‘Breaking the South Slav Dream’; and Laurie Mayer, former BBC and Sky News presenter and broadcast journalist. And, following a break for refreshments and networking, there were contributions from veteran peace activist Carol Turner, who co-founded and led the Committee for Peace in the Balkans with the late Alice Mahon MP in 1994; and Keith Bennett, co-editor of Friends of Socialist China.

The evening was closed with a brief recital from Zorka Maksimovic.

Speakers pointed out that, contrary to the propaganda advanced in Britain, there had been no threat of a Greater Serbia but rather of a Greater NATO. The real meaning of NATO expansion was exposed, namely military aggression beyond its borders. The war against Yugoslavia was neither humanitarian nor legal. Rather, it was what the Nuremburg trials established as the supreme international crime – a war of aggression. The war was characterised by numerous atrocities – the bombing of passenger trains, refugee convoys, factories, hospitals, the TV station and the Chinese Embassy. Depleted Uranium was used, condemning future generations and the environment to its lethal effects.

The wounds of the conflict have not healed. Serbian sovereignty is still being transgressed, for example on the question of Kosovo. Moreover, the war had opened Pandora’s Box – that the Western powers could attack whomever they wanted. This was soon seen in Iraq and is still ongoing – in NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine and Israel’s war against the Palestinian people. In Laurie Mayer’s words, the war against Yugoslavia represented raw imperialism run amuck.

The following is Keith’s message delivered at the meeting on behalf of Friends of Socialist China.

Your Excellency

Ladies and Gentlemen

Dear Friends

On behalf of Friends of Socialist China, I’d like to express our thanks to the organisers of this eventfor inviting us to join them in marking the solemn occasion of the 26th Anniversary of the NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

With war raging in Europe and the Middle East, it is appropriate that we remember and mark this anniversary of the first time that full-scale war returned to our continent since the defeat of fascism in 1945.

This is also the 80th anniversary year of that victory. The peoples of both Serbia and China played heroic and indispensable parts in the defeat of fascism. They pinned down hundreds of thousands, indeed millions, of axis troops and liberated their countries, principally on the basis of self-reliance.

The enduring friendship between China and Serbia has its root in this common struggle on the eastern and western fronts. The 1969 Yugoslav film, The Bridge, vividly depicted those days. It was one of the first foreign films to be shown in China at the start of reform and opening up. Both the film, and through it the song Bella Ciao, became favourites of a generation of Chinese people, including President Xi Jinping.

Dear Friends

As you know, on May 7, 1999, in one of the gross violations of international law that characterised this war of aggression, US-led NATO brazenly bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. Three journalists, including a newly married couple, from the Xinhua News Agency and the Guangming Daily, were killed and many more people were injured. The husband of the third journalist was blinded.

The indestructible friendship between China and Serbia, which we might call China’s best friend in Europe, is the most fitting tribute to their memory, demonstrating as it does that their sacrifice was not in vain.

As President Xi said during his June 2016 state visit to Serbia, having paid tribute to the martyrs, “The Serbian people, with an indomitable spirit, have revived time and again in history… which the Chinese people admire very much.”

In today’s complicated and tense international situation, the friendship between China and Serbia is an important factor for peace and stability. As friends of China, it is completely natural and appropriate that we think of Serbia, too, as a brotherly and friendly country. And the Serbian diaspora and community here as our brothers and sisters.

This evening, we make new friends and renew old friendships with people with whom we campaigned and marched shoulder to shoulder back in 1999.

Let’s continue to work together for peace and justice.

Thank you once again.

Tongogara Memorial Talk: African liberation and China

On Saturday May 17, 2025, the Free Mumia Abu Jamal Campaign UK, which campaigns in solidarity with the African-American freedom fighter and revolutionary who has been imprisoned since 1981, the majority of that time on ‘death row’, held a meeting and social event in memory of Comrade Tongogara (born Danny Morrell), who passed away on May 11, 2023, after a lifetime of work in the anti-racist, anti-imperialist and Marxist-Leninist movements. The UK campaign in support of Mumia was launched on Tongogara’s initiative.

The meeting was held in Vida’s ‘My Social’, a community space in Brixton, south London, especially but not exclusively for seniors. It is named after Vida Walsh, a pioneering African-Caribbean community and social activist in the Brixton area in particular. In the 1970s, Vida set up and ran an informal ‘tea and chat club’ for pensioners in Brixton. Despite the support of Age Concern Lambeth and the local residents’ association, resources were limited. Because of this, members congregated in each other’s homes, enabling pensioners to meet on a regular basis to chat and to maintain contacts within the community. This was particularly important for those older residents who, for whatever reason, were unable to rely on familial support structures for advice or assistance. To have a dedicated community space for this work was Vida’s dream and mission.

The campaign invited Friends of Socialist China co-editor Keith Bennett, who was a friend and comrade of Tongogara since the 1970s, to give a talk on the theme of African liberation and China, combining as it does two key aspects of Tongogara’s life and work.

Keith’s talk sought to weave together Tongogara’s own world outlook and political path with China’s historical support to the African revolution in the 1960s and 1970s in particular, citing examples especially from Zimbabwe, Eritrea, Congo, Guinea Bissau, Niger and South Africa.

The talk was followed by a lively ‘Q&A’ and discussion, focused especially on events around Angola’s independence in November 1975 and on present-day relations between China and Africa.

The meeting also heard a heartfelt tribute to Tongogara from Cecil Gutzmore, veteran Pan-African community activist and historian, and a stalwart of the campaign, which was read on his behalf by Wilf Dixon, as well as a brief report from that day’s Palestine solidarity demonstration in central London, which was attended by an estimated 600,000 people.

The formal proceedings were followed by a social with music and delicious home-prepared food.

The following is the main body of Keith’s speech.

It is an honour for me to be invited by the Free Mumia Abu Jamal Campaign UK to give this first Tongogara Memorial Talk, just over two years since he joined the ancestors. I hope it will be the first of many and that this will in some small way help to keep his memory alive in the way he would surely have wanted – enabling others to be inspired by his life and work, to learn from his example and to carry on the cause to which he devoted the great majority of his years.

Let me take this opportunity, on behalf of Friends of Socialist China, to congratulate the Free Mumia Campaign for all the steadfast and unflinching work you have done over years, work in which Tongogara was at the heart, to ensure that this unyielding revolutionary and internationalist is not forgotten in the hell hole of the US prison system.

As Mumia himself has said: “Know this: throughout it all. I have never felt alone. To the eye, I was alone in solitary confinement, on death row, but the eye cannot really see all that is, for behind brick and steel, I felt our love, sometimes like a wave, sometimes like a whisper, but always there, ever present.”

Why should I be giving this talk today? Perhaps it’s for the organisers rather than me to say. But I’m the co-editor of Friends of Socialist China, a platform established four years ago to support the People’s Republic of China and promote understanding of Chinese socialism and the Chinese revolution.

The Chinese revolution and its impact on the world has fascinated me since my early teens. And that’s essentially how I came to know Tongogara. Anyone who knew him, would appreciate that for Tongogara, the Chinese revolution and the teachings of Mao Zedong were central to his outlook on life – a veritable political compass, alongside his unshakeable commitment to the liberation of African people worldwide. At home and abroad, to borrow Marcus Garvey’s expression.

I can’t remember exactly when I first met him, but we certainly knew each other by the summer of 1976, just before my 18th birthday. Danny Morrell, as he was then known, was at that time a member of a small communist organisation, which was going to start producing a factory newspaper for the engineering factory in north London where he and a couple of other comrades had taken jobs.

Obviously, it would have marked the end of their employment, and hence of the political project in which they were engaged, had they openly distributed the paper themselves. That was my job and the night before I stayed at Danny’s bedsit to be there for the early morning shift.

That night we talked – obviously – and that’s when I started to really get to know him. I was touched by the loving photos of family back in Jamaica, which held pride of place alongside the posters produced by the Youth Forces for National Liberation (YFNL), a vibrant Marxist-Leninist organisation in Jamaica at that time.  One of them commemorated the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865.

Continue reading Tongogara Memorial Talk: African liberation and China

Ho Chi Minh’s vital contributions to the global socialist and anti-imperialist struggle

Marking the 135th anniversary of the birth of the country’s revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, May 19, 2025, the Vietnamese press has carried numerous articles reflecting the worldwide respect felt by progressive people for their national hero.

In one such article, a Vietnam News Agency (VNA) correspondent in Beijing, interviewed Professor Pan Jin’e, a senior fellow at the Academy of Marxism under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Pan described Ho Chi Minh as the founder of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, a great revolutionary, a brilliant strategist, and a moral exemplar. She also highlighted his role as a leader of anti-colonial movements across Asia, Africa, and Latin America in the 20th century, as well as his significant place in the history of the international communist movement.

She noted that President Ho Chi Minh remained steadfast in his internationalist ideals. He joined the French Communist Party, actively collaborated with leaders of other socialist countries, and maintained close ties with the Chinese revolution. Alongside leaders such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, he helped build the traditional friendship between Vietnam and China – a relationship that remains cherished by both parties and peoples.

As a representative of the Communist International, Ho Chi Minh supported revolutionary movements worldwide, particularly in China, Laos, and Cambodia, playing an active role in anti-colonial struggles and proletarian revolutions.

Another article carried by Nhân Dân noted that: “With the friendship of ‘the proletariat in all four directions are brothers’, Ho Chi Minh harshly criticised some comrades in the Communist International for incorrectly assessing the colonial issue and confidently affirmed that the proletarian revolution was completely capable of breaking out first in the colonial countries, thereby creating conditions for workers and labourers in the mother countries to carry out the revolution to liberate the class and liberate society.”

The following article was originally published by Nhân Dân.

President Ho Chi Minh made significant contributions to Viet Nam and the international community, according to Professor Pan Jin’e, a senior fellow at the Academy of Marxism under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

In an interview with a Viet Nam News Agency (VNA) correspondent in Beijing on the occasion of the 135th birth anniversary of the late Vietnamese leader (May 19, 1890–2025), Pan described Ho Chi Minh as the founder of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam, a great revolutionary, a brilliant strategist, and a moral exemplar. She also highlighted his role as a leader of anti-colonial movements across Asia, Africa, and Latin America in the 20th century, including his significance in the history of the international communist movement.

She emphasised that his contributions were reflected not only in Viet Nam’s national liberation and national building efforts but also in their profound impact on global struggles against colonialism and the international socialist movement.

Ho Chi Minh led the independence movement, founded the Communist Party of Viet Nam, and waged resistance wars against colonial and imperial forces, devoting his entire life to national reunification. He also guided the country’s socialist development in politics, economy and culture, spearheaded land reform, poverty alleviation, and national unity policies.

President Ho Chi Minh remained steadfast in his internationalist ideals. He joined the French Communist Party, actively collaborated with leaders of other socialist countries, and maintained close ties with the Chinese revolution. Alongside leaders such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, he helped build the traditional friendship between Viet Nam and China—a relationship that remains cherished by both Parties and peoples.

As a representative of the Communist International, Ho Chi Minh supported revolutionary movements worldwide, particularly in China, Laos, and Cambodia, playing an active role in anti-colonial struggles and proletarian revolutions.

According to the Chinese scholar, whether during Viet Nam’s socialist revolutionary era or its ongoing doi moi (renewal) cause, Ho Chi Minh’s status as a national hero and spiritual leader has never diminished. In 2019, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) honoured him as a “Hero of National Liberation and a Great Man of Culture,” acknowledging his historic contributions to humanity.

Reflecting on the spirit of unity embodied in Ho Chi Minh’s Thought, Pan underscored that under his leadership and that of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, the country achieved the historic victory of national reunification on April 30, 1975. This triumph is a powerful testament to his famous teachings: “Unity, unity, great unity. Success, success, great success!” National unity, she noted, remains the most vital force behind Viet Nam’s revolutionary success.

The Chinese scholar expressed her belief that the Vietnamese people will always remember President Ho Chi Minh’s final wishes, continue to uphold national solidarity, and write new chapters in the nation’s proud history. They will strive to build an independent, free, happy, prosperous, and civilised Viet Nam by 2050, fulfilling the late leader’s long-cherished dream of seeing Viet Nam stand shoulder to shoulder with the great powers of the five continents, she continued.

Keith Bennett: WW2 victory is inseparable from the heroic struggle of the Soviet and Chinese peoples

The Workers Party of Britain (WPB) packed London’s Bolivar Hall, the cultural premises of the Venezuelan Embassy, on Saturday May 10 for its celebration of the 80th anniversary of the victory over fascism in the European theatre of World War II.

The meeting was attended by Dzmitry Kozlovsky, Chargé d’ Affaires, and Andrei Miskevich , Counsellor, of the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus; Alexander Gusarov, Minister Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission, and Timofey Kunitskiy, First Secretary, of the Embassy of the Russian Federation; Minister Zhao Fei and Zhen Sitong from the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China; and Wilfredo Hernández Maya, Counsellor of the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. 

The meeting heard a message of greetings from Workers Party leader George Galloway, filmed in Moscow’s Red Square, where he was attending the celebrations.

Chaired and introduced by WPB General Secretary Paul Cannon, the meeting was addressed by the diplomatic representatives of Belarus, Russia and Venezuela; Mick Stott from the WPB’s Veterans Group and the No 2 NATO Campaign; Louise Scrivens from the No Conscription League; Jesse Williams from the British Preparatory Committee for the World Festival of Youth; Shanaz Saddique, WPB National Organiser; and Keith Bennett of Friends of Socialist China, who spoke on the war in Asia.

Keith began by congratulating the WPB on organising the meeting and thanking them for the invitation. Extending our greetings to the diplomats present, Keith recalled that FOSC had held its own celebration of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in this same hall in September last year. Expressing his thanks once again, he noted that both events showed how the comrades of the revolutionary government of Venezuela, despite the outrageous pressures, aggression, sanctions and threats to which their country has been and is still subjected, can always be relied on for their support, collaboration and friendship in the best traditions of internationalism.

The following is the text of the main body of Keith’s speech.

Today’s meeting is a timely initiative – 80 years on, the struggle against fascism, against imperialist war and genocide, for the rights of nations, and for a people’s peace and a better life for working people have lost none of their poignancy or urgency.

It is right that we remember this anniversary. And that we remember it from the standpoint of the working class rather than just that of the ruling circles. The war touched the lives of every family in this country just as it did those of every family in all the countries that were swept into its maelstrom. And the victory was the result of the broadest possible unity of democratic forces worldwide.

But whilst the people of every country, including the progressive and democratic forces in the axis powers themselves, played their part, above all, this victory was inseparable from the heroic exploits, struggle and sacrifice of the great Soviet people of all nationalities and the great Chinese people.

Today, we celebrate the victorious end of the war in Europe, but the war in East Asia and the Pacific still had more than three months to run and whilst it was clear that Japanese militarism would be defeated, nobody could be sure how long that would take and how many lives it would still claim. That was the sobering reality to which people awoke after the greatly deserved revelry of the first VE Day.

So, in being asked to speak about the war in the east on this occasion, I’ll try to draw out the essential relationship between what were the two key fronts of a single united struggle. Fronts that were mutually reinforcing and inseparable. And at the heart of this single struggle was the combat alliance, the friendship forged in blood, between the peoples of China, Russia and the other constituent republics of the USSR.

The anti-fascist war in China started earliest and lasted the longest. Japanese imperialism, which had first embarked on the road of aggression against China in the nineteenth century, occupied China’s three northeastern provinces in 1931, creating the puppet state of Manchukuo. In 1937, Japan began an all-out war of aggression against China. In the course of 14 years, China suffered over 35 million casualties.  As Xi Jinping put it in his speech marking the 70th anniversary of victory:

“The victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression is the first complete victory won by China in its resistance against foreign aggression in modern times. This great triumph crushed the plot of the Japanese militarists to colonise and enslave China and put an end to China’s national humiliation of suffering successive defeats at the hands of foreign aggressors in modern times.”

He added: “During the war, with huge national sacrifice, the Chinese people held their ground in the main theatre in the East of the World Anti-Fascist War, thus making a major contribution to its victory.”

And as then Chinese leader Hu Jintao put it 10 years previously:

“The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression constitutes a glorious page in the history of the World Anti-Fascist War, for it broke out much earlier and lasted the longest. For a long time, we Chinese contained and pinned down the main forces of Japanese militarism in the China theatre and annihilated more than 1.5 million Japanese troops. This played a decisive role in the total defeat of the Japanese aggressors. The war of resistance lent a strategic support to battles of China’s allies, assisted the strategic operations in the Europe and Pacific theatres, and restrained and disrupted the attempt of Japanese, German and Italian fascists to coordinate their strategic operations… The victory of the war in China sets a shining example of the weak vanquishing the strong for the people all over the world and boosted the confidence and morale of the oppressed and victimised nations to carry on their liberation wars.”

In a word, by their heroic struggle the Chinese people not only rose up to save their nation and civilisation. By pinning down huge numbers of aggressor troops, they prevented Japan from attacking the Soviet Union, thereby ensuring that the Red Army never had to fight on two fronts simultaneously, something that was absolutely crucial to expediting both a victorious conclusion to the war in Europe but also to an overall and decisive victory over the axis powers as a whole.

In 1931, Soviet leader JV Stalin uttered these prophetic words: ““We are 50-100 years behind the advanced countries. We have to close that gap in 10 years. Either we do it or we will be wiped out.”

In putting matters in this way, Stalin was mindful of threats to both the USSR’s East and West.

Since the emergence of Japan as a capitalist nation after the bourgeois revolution of the late 1860s known as the Meiji Restoration, the ruling class of Japan, a country lacking in most raw materials, had cast covetous eyes at the Far East of Russia and at Siberia, with its vast area, small population, but almost limitless mineral and natural wealth.

In 1904, Japan launched a war against Russia, winning a stunning victory the next year. This served notice to the whole world of the emergence of Japan as a major imperialist power, whilst the shock of Russia’s defeat was a major contributory factor to the Russian Revolution of 1905.

Following the October Revolution, Japan joined all the imperialist powers in the war of intervention against the infant Soviet state. In 1918, Japan occupied Russia’s far eastern provinces, including the port of Vladivostok, and parts of Siberia. The Red Army forced their withdrawal in 1922.

Continue reading Keith Bennett: WW2 victory is inseparable from the heroic struggle of the Soviet and Chinese peoples