Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi visited China on May 6 for talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
Araghchi briefed Wang on the latest developments in the Iran-US negotiations and Iran’s next steps, stating that facts have proven that political crises cannot be resolved through military means. Iran will resolutely safeguard its national sovereignty and national dignity while continuously building consensus through peaceful negotiations to seek a comprehensive and permanent solution. Currently, the issue of opening the Strait of Hormuz could be promptly addressed. Iran highly appreciates and agrees with the four propositions put forward by President Xi Jinping [during his recent meeting with the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates {UAE}] on safeguarding and promoting peace and stability in the region. Iran commends China for always standing on the right side of history and making unremitting efforts with a constructive attitude to prevent the situation from deteriorating and spilling over. Iran trusts China and looks forward to China continuing to play an active role in promoting peace and ending the conflict and supports the establishment of a new post-war regional framework that can coordinate development and security.
The Iranian Foreign Minister added that his country is willing to take the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries this year as an opportunity to strengthen exchanges at all levels, tap into cooperation potential, provide firm mutual support, and deepen all-round cooperation. Iran is also willing to strengthen communication and coordination with China in multilateral affairs and continuously deepen the Iran-China comprehensive strategic partnership.
Wang Yi reiterated China’s principled position on the situation in Iran, emphasising that China has been actively promoting peace and facilitating talks since the outbreak of hostilities. President Xi Jinping solemnly put forward four propositions on safeguarding and promoting peace and stability in the Middle East, which has received a positive response from the international community. The current regional situation is at a critical juncture between war and peace. China believes that a comprehensive ceasefire is of utmost urgency, that resuming hostilities is even less acceptable, and that adhering to negotiations is particularly important. China supports Iran in safeguarding its national sovereignty and security and appreciates Iran’s willingness to seek a political solution through diplomatic channels. Regarding the Strait of Hormuz, the international community shares a common concern about restoring normal and safe passage through the strait, and China hopes that the parties involved will promptly respond to the strong call from the international community. [In this regard it should be noted above that Araghchi said that this issue could be promptly addressed, whereas the same day, US President Donald Trump boasted that, “the blockade will remain in full force and effect.” Iran has consistently stressed that the Strait remains open to all but the US aggressors and their allies.]
Chinese President Xi Jinping has advanced four propositions aimed at safeguarding and promoting peace and stability in the Middle East.
He outlined these at an April 14 meeting in Beijing with Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates, UAE).
Xi Jinping stressed China’s principled position of promoting peace and facilitating talks and reiterated his country’s readiness to continue playing a constructive role in this regard. His four-point proposition stresses:
Stay committed to the principle of peaceful coexistence. The Gulf states in the Middle East are close neighbours that cannot move away. It’s important to support the Gulf states in improving their ties, work to build a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security architecture of the Middle East and the Gulf region, and consolidate the foundation for peaceful coexistence.
Stay committed to the principle of national sovereignty. Sovereignty serves as a foundation for all countries, especially developing countries, to survive and thrive, and it must not be violated.
Stay committed to the principle of international rule of law. We should safeguard the authority of international rule of law, reject selective application, and prevent the world from returning to the law of the jungle. It is important to firmly uphold the international system with the United Nations at its core, the international order based on international law, and the basic norms governing international relations underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.
Stay committed to a balanced approach to development and security. Security is a prerequisite for development and development serves as a safeguard of security.
The previous day, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had met with the Special Envoy of the UAE President to China Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, who was accompanying Al Nahyan.
Also on April 13, Wang Yi had a phone call with Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar.
Dar gave a comprehensive briefing on Pakistan’s mediation efforts between Iran and the United States and expressed appreciation for China’s endeavours to promote peace. Pakistan stands ready to maintain close communication and coordination with China and jointly play a positive role in realising peace in the region.
Wang reiterated China’s principled position and commended Pakistan for facilitating a temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran and for hosting the Islamabad talks, noting that Pakistan has played a fair and balanced mediating role. He said that the current ceasefire remains highly fragile and the regional situation is at a critical turning point. The pressing priority is to do everything possible to prevent the resumption of hostilities and sustain the hard-won momentum of the ceasefire. The international community should step up efforts to promote peace talks and unequivocally oppose any actions that undermine the ceasefire and escalate confrontation. The Five-Point Initiative of China and Pakistan for Restoring Peace and Stability in the Gulf and Middle East Region reflects the consensus of the international community on promoting peace and can continue to serve as a direction for efforts toward resolving the issue. The Chinese side is pleased to see Pakistan play a greater role and stands ready to work with Pakistan and the rest of the international community to continue making positive contributions to the early restoration of peace and stability in the Middle East.
In the following article, which was originally published in the Morning Star, Jenny Clegg addresses some of the frequently raised questions regarding China’s stand and role in the context of the current US-Israeli aggression against Iran.
She notes that one should be clear that, “Donald Trump’s strategy has China in its sights. The 2025 US National Security Strategy with its focus on the western hemisphere was thought to shift US strategy from the IndoPacific — in fact the “Donroe” block on Chinese investment in Latin America specifically aimed to shatter the BRICS.”
The current Israeli-US actions, Jenny argues, are dictated by the fact that, “their plans for regional and global hegemony respectively were on the line.
“In June 2025, a new phase of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) opened with the inauguration of the Iran-China Railway. This direct connection between Iran and central Asia and China offers an alternative economic corridor for oil and mineral exports to navigate around US sanctions and maritime bottlenecks such as the Malacca Straits… Coming onto the horizon now was a new artery between the fast-growing and modernising regions of the Middle East/west Asia and south-east Asia linked by high-speed rail through Western China. The 21st century was being remade.”
In the current situation, she notes, China has been far from inactive: “Following the UN security council failure to rule Trump’s war as illegal, instead placing all the blame on Iran, China doubled down on diplomacy. A special envoy was sent to the region while Foreign Minister Wang Yi made multiple phone calls… China then met with Pakistan which had for its part been conferring with Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Together they produced a five-point peace plan covering the cessation of hostilities, protection of civilians, restoration of maritime security and the primacy of international law.”
Looking at the ongoing reconfiguration of the regional geopolitical architecture, Jenny observes: “The Gulf states’ bargain, exchanging security for US bases and huge arms sales, has put them in the firing line… with the US in general decline, new developments have also been influencing the reshaping of the region — the Saudi Arabia-Iran rapprochement brokered by China; the reconciliation between the Palestine groups again mediated by the Chinese, and now with Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, all members of the BRI, seeking to take greater responsibility for peace.”
In what cannot but be described as a humiliating climbdown and significant defeat for US imperialism, on the evening of April 7, barely minutes before his self-set deadline for unleashing a genocide of unprecedented savagery and barbarism aimed at wiping out the millennia long Iranian civilisation, US President Donald Trump suddenly announced that he had accepted a Pakistani proposal for a two-week ceasefire, with negotiations between the two main protagonists set to begin in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on April 10.
After a month of bestial aggression characterised from the first day by the most egregious war crimes, including the massacre of more than 170 people, the majority of them little girls, in the bombing of a school, along with the murder of the religious and political supreme leader of the Iranian people together with numerous members of his family as well as leading political figures of the country; after a rising crescendo of ever more deranged and psychotic threats of a kind not publicly uttered by a head of state since Adolf Hitler, albeit the nazi leader refrained from using such profane language in public, the US mafia boss performed a volte face and declared that Iran’s 10-point peace proposal, which had been on the table since the start of the aggression, constituted a “workable basis on which to negotiate.”
According to Iran’s Press TV, these ten points are as follows:
No new aggression against Iran
Continued Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz
Acceptance of (uranium) enrichment
Removal of all primary sanctions
Removal of all secondary sanctions
Termination of all UN Security Council resolutions
Termination of all (International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA) Board of Governors resolutions
Payment of compensation to Iran
Withdrawal of US combat forces from the region
Cessation of war on all fronts, including against the heroic Islamic Resistance of Lebanon
Even on the reasonable assumption that any serious negotiation is unlikely to see any side fully realise all its objectives, and irrespective of what the future holds, this climbdown by Trump represents a humiliation for the United States on a scale not seen since the defeats inflicted by the heroic peoples of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia half a century ago.
A statement from Iran’s National Security Council said:
“On the first day, when the criminal enemies of Iran began this oppressive war, they imagined they would succeed in complete military dominance over Iran in a short time and force Iran to surrender by creating political and social instability. They thought Iran’s missile and drone fire would be quickly extinguished and did not believe that Iran could deliver such a powerful response beyond its borders and across the entire region…
“Iran and the Resistance almost completely destroyed the American military machine in the region; they dealt crushing and profound blows to the vast infrastructure and facilities that the enemy had built and stationed around the region over the years for this war against Iran. In regional dimensions, they imposed extensive casualties on the criminal American army, and within the occupied territories, they delivered heavy and shattering blows to the enemy’s forces, infrastructure, facilities, and assets…
“Now, the honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan has informed Iran that the American side, despite all outward threats, has accepted these principles as the basis for negotiations and has surrendered to the will of the Iranian nation. Accordingly, at the highest level, it has been decided that Iran will engage in negotiations in Islamabad with the American side for a period of two weeks, based solely on these principles. It is emphasised that this does not mean the end of the war; Iran will only accept the termination of the war once the details—given the acceptance of Iran’s preferred principles in the 10-point plan—are finalised in the negotiations…
“If the enemy’s surrender on the battlefield is transformed into a decisive political achievement in the negotiations, we will celebrate this massive historical victory together; otherwise, we will fight side-by-side on the battlefield until all the demands of the Iranian nation are met. Our hands are on the trigger, and the moment the slightest error is committed by the enemy, it will be responded to with full power.”
We are pleased to republish below an editorial from the Global Times calling on the US and Israel to immediately end their criminal aggression against Iran, before a conflict that “should never have happened” slides beyond all control.
The editorial’s assessment is damning. The US government’s prediction of a “four to five week” war has already been proven wrong, and the conflict’s geography has expanded far beyond its original scope – from the Persian Gulf to the eastern Mediterranean, from the Strait of Hormuz to the Bab el-Mandeb. US assets in Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, the UAE and Bahrain have all come under attack. Oil prices have surged past $112 a barrel. The risk of global recession is rising.
Most alarming, the editorial argues, is the erosion of limits on targets, with the US and Israel showing no restraint in their attacks on key civilian infrastructure, including oil refineries, desalination plants and power stations.
The editorial identifies a narrow window for peace: both the US and Iran have previously signalled openness to negotiation. China meanwhile has called for ceasefire from the first day and has been working consistently at the level of diplomacy towards that end. “War has no winners, only irreparable harm.”
It has now been a full month since the US and Israel launched military strikes against Iran on February 28. Far from achieving their so-called “intended objectives,” this conflict, which was initiated by the US and Israel without justification amid negotiations, has instead edged steadily toward the brink of losing control. Although it is uncertain how this conflict will end, its shock to geopolitics and the global order is already profound. What is urgently needed now is to prevent this conflict – one that should never have happened – from sliding into the abyss of complete loss of control.
China and Pakistan have jointly launched a five-point peace initiative aimed at ending the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran.
The move came as the centrepiece of a March 31 visit to Beijing by Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar for talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
At their meeting, Wang said that the mediation efforts of the Pakistani side regarding the conflict are in the common interests of all parties. China supports and looks forward to Pakistan playing a unique and important role in easing the situation and resuming peace talks. China is willing to make joint efforts with Pakistan to end the hostilities as soon as possible, create opportunities for peace and open the window for peace talks.
On bilateral ties, Wang said this year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan, calling on both sides to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and constantly advance the building of a China-Pakistan community with a shared future.
For his part, Dar said the Pakistan-China friendship is precious and deeply rooted in people’s hearts, adding that Pakistan is willing to work with China to promote the continuous development of the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries. He thanked China for supporting Pakistan’s mediation of the situation in Iran, adding that the current conflict has disrupted international energy supplies and caused heavy damage to developing countries.
Immediate Cessation of Hostilities. Humanitarian assistance must be allowed to all war-affected areas.
Start of peace talks as soon as possible. Sovereignty, territorial integrity, national independence and security of Iran and the Gulf states should be safeguarded. China and Pakistan support the relevant parties in initiating talks, with all parties committing to peaceful resolution of disputes, and refraining from the use or the threat of use of force during peace talks.
Security of nonmilitary targets. The principle of protecting civilians in military conflict should be observed. China and Pakistan call on parties to the conflict to immediately stop attacks on civilians and nonmilitary targets and to fully adhere to International Humanitarian Law (IHL), and stop attacking important infrastructure, including energy, desalination and power facilities, and peaceful nuclear infrastructure, such as nuclear power plants.
Security of shipping lanes. China and Pakistan call on the parties to protect the security of ships and crew members stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, allow the early and safe passage of civilian and commercial ships, and restore normal passage through the Strait as soon as possible.
Primacy of the United Nations Charter. China and Pakistan call for efforts to practice true multilateralism, to jointly strengthen the primacy of the UN, and to support the conclusion of an agreement for establishing a comprehensive peace framework and realising lasting peace based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and international law.
At a Chinese Foreign Ministry press conference on April 1, spokesperson Mao Ning said that the initiative is open and all countries and international organisations are welcome to respond to and participate in it.
As the criminal US-Israeli war on Iran enters its fourth week, a new front has opened in the information space. Alongside the bombs and missiles, a set of coordinated Western narratives has emerged targeting China: claiming that Beijing has suffered a strategic failure, that it bears some responsibility for the conflict, or that it hopes to benefit in some way from the carnage. The following editorial from Global Times systematically dismantles all three claims.
The reality is straightforward. China is not a party to this conflict. It did not authorise it, did not seek it, and has nothing to gain from it. What China has done is speak up clearly for international law, denounce illegal aggression, dispatch its special envoy to the region, call for respect for Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and provide emergency humanitarian assistance to the civilian victims of the war – including the 175 killed in the US bombing of a girls’ school in Minab. As the editorial puts it with blunt precision: “Aside from the Western military-industrial complex profiting from arms sales, there are no winners in this war.”
These narratives targeting China are designed to shift blame, suppress calls for peace, and provide cover for aggression.
The military conflict involving the US, Israel, and Iran has entered its third week, with the situation remaining complex and tense. Without authorization from the UN Security Council, the US and Israel launched attacks and killed Iran’s supreme leader, deliberately provoking a war against Iran. China is not a party to this conflict. However, some Western narratives have seized the opportunity to fabricate claims aimed at discrediting China. These narratives broadly fall into three categories: the so-called “China failure” narrative, the “China responsibility” narrative, and the “China winner” narrative. Such absurd claims are driven by ulterior motives and thinly veiled political self-interest.
The so-called “China failure” narrative hypes that China’s strategy of turning Iran into a key regional pillar is on the verge of collapse. The facts are clear: China has never been involved in this conflict, nor has it bet on any side. The conflict is the result of unilateral military actions by the US and Israel and has nothing to do with China’s diplomatic or economic strategies. China has actively expanded exchanges and cooperation with various countries including the Middle Eastern states based on respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity. It does not engage in military alliances, bloc confrontation, or proxy wars. Its influence in the Middle East is built on deep and extensive cooperation, which gives it resilience even amid conflict. Where, then, is the so-called “strategic failure”?
Such claims merely reflect a power-politics mind-set obsessed with staking out spheres of influence, one that fails to understand the values of peaceful coexistence and mutual benefit in China’s foreign policy.
China’s Ambassador to the United Nations Fu Cong made an important statement on his country’s position at a March 13 United Nations Security Council briefing on the Iranian nuclear issue.
Fu began by stating that: “China has just stated its position about the 1737 Committee and its opposition to this meeting and does not intend to comment on the work of the Committee itself. However, as a member of the Security Council, China wishes to emphasise the following points regarding the current situation surrounding the Iranian nuclear issue and the way forward.”
The 1737 Committee was established following the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1737 on December 23, 2006, which imposed sanctions on Iran.
Having stated this principled opposition, Fu made four key points as follow:
The use of force is not the right way to resolve international disputes. Iran’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity should be respected. The United States and Israel should immediately stop their military operations, refrain from attacking Iranian nuclear facilities under IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) safeguards, avoid further escalation, and prevent the conflict from spreading across the entire Middle East.
The Iranian nuclear issue should ultimately return to the track of a political and diplomatic solution. It was the United States unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) that triggered the Iranian nuclear crisis. The United States has also disregarded its own credibility and, together with Israel, twice resorted to the use of force against Iran during the negotiations, causing diplomatic efforts to collapse. Regarding the root cause of the Iranian nuclear crisis, the United States actions violate international law and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. China strongly condemns this. Relevant European countries should stop fuelling tensions and instead play a constructive role in easing the situation.
Fairness and justice must be upheld, and Iran’s right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, as a State Party to the Treaty on the NPT (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty), must be effectively protected. Iran has repeatedly reaffirmed that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons. Even after its nuclear facilities were attacked, Iran has continued cooperating with the IAEA and engaged in multiple rounds of professional and pragmatic talks with the United States in a constructive spirit. Iran’s sincerity should be taken seriously.
Any action by the Security Council should be aimed at easing tensions and preserving long-term peace and stability in the Middle East. It must be fair and impartial, and must not become a tool for sanctions, pressure, or the political agenda of any individual state. The Security Council should help build trust among parties, bridge differences, and create favourable conditions for the resumption of negotiations, ensuring that the dialogue process can proceed smoothly and effectively in an environment free from the threat of force. Relevant countries should stop engaging in political manipulation at the Security Council.
Meanwhile, on March 17, at a regular press conference in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that China has decided to offer emergency humanitarian assistance to Iran, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq in the hope of easing the humanitarian plight faced by local people.
CGTN, China’s foreign language television service, put the following question to Lin:
Following the bestial war crime committed by the United States on February 28, when it murdered at least 175 civilians, the overwhelming majority of them young schoolgirls, in its missile attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in the southern Iranian town of Minab, the Red Cross Society of China has decided to provide the Red Crescent Society of Iran with US$200,000 in emergency humanitarian assistance as special funds to support the bereaved parents.
Announcing the measure at the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s March 13 press conference in Beijing, in response to a question from the Beijing Youth Daily, spokesperson Guo Jiakun added:
“China stands ready to continue providing necessary assistance to Iran in a humanitarian spirit to help the Iranian people get through this difficult time.”
Their exchange reads as follows:
Beijing Youth Daily: The US and Israel launched military strikes on Iran on February 28. Media reports say that air strikes on Shajarah Tayyebeh primary school in Iran’s Hormozgan province killed over 160 girls. Is China considering providing humanitarian assistance to Iran?
Guo Jiakun: China condemns all indiscriminate attacks against civilians and non-military targets. Attacks on schools and harm to the children, in particular, seriously violate the international humanitarian law and breach the fundamental principles of human conscience. We deeply mourn for the students from Shajarah Tayyebeh primary school in Iran’s Hormozgan province and extend sincere sympathies to their families. The Red Cross Society of China has decided to provide the Red Crescent Society of Iran with US$200,000 in emergency humanitarian assistance as special funds to support the bereaved parents. China stands ready to continue providing necessary assistance to Iran in a humanitarian spirit to help the Iranian people get through this difficult time.
The full press conference can be read here. A related report was carried by the Xinhua News Agency.
In an International Manifesto Groupwebinar held on 1 March, prominent Chinese scholar Victor Gao – Vice President of the Center for China and Globalization – gives a powerful critique of the latest Israeli-US aggression against Iran.
Victor correctly characterises the war launched by Israel and the United States as “a war of aggression and a war of injustice”. He goes on to unambiguously uphold Iran’s right to self-defence:
I listened very carefully to UN Secretary-General António Guterres when he spoke at the Security Council of the United Nations. He condemned the war launched by Israel and the United States against Iran, which I fully support. But he also condemned the military attacks launched by Iran against quite a few countries in the Middle East.
I tend to disagree with Secretary-General Guterres. Why? Because Iran, in my view, has the full right to strike at any military bases, facilities, installations, or military personnel of the United States in other regions in that part of the world—including, for example, in Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, and so on.
Otherwise, it would be completely odd for Iran to be attacked in such an aggressive manner by the United States and Israel, and yet be expected to sit like a sitting duck under such military attacks – attempts to overthrow its government, probably also to destroy its civilisation – while being bound by the futility of not striking at the military facilities and installations in its neighbourhood, which most likely have been used one way or another in launching this ongoing attack against Iran.
He proceeds to reiterate China’s orientation towards peace and its clear interest in seeing an end to hostilities: “China’s imported oil accounts for about 75 percent of the total oil we consume annually. Much of that comes from the Middle East, and much of it needs to go through the Strait of Hormuz. So we have a vested interest in keeping peace in the Middle East rather than seeing the continuation of the war and the deterioration of the situation.”
Victor concludes with a stark warning:
The US and its allies want to expand. They want to take over land, oil, gas and other minerals from the legitimate possession of other countries. They want to violate sovereignty and territorial integrity. They want to impose war – and this will not be the last war. They want to impose war after war against other countries. If we do not unite to put a stop to this aggression and war, I think they will push the situation – not only involving Iran, or the Middle East, but the whole world – into an abyss of turmoil, chaos, instability, and destruction.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has repeated his country’s condemnation of the US-Israeli aggression against Iran and stressed that China stands for peace in a number of diplomatic exchanges.
Following his March 1 phone conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, the following day Wang spoke with the foreign ministers of Iran, Oman and France.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi briefed Wang Yi on the latest developments of the situation of Iran, noting that the US has launched war against Iran for the second time during their ongoing negotiations. Though the two sides have made positive progress in the latest round of negotiations, the US action violates all international laws and treads and even crosses the red line of Iran. The Iranian side has no choice but to defend itself at all costs. China has made public its voice for fairness and justice, and Iran hopes that China will continue playing a proactive role in preventing the escalation of tensions in the region.
Wang Yi noted that China values the traditional friendship between China and Iran and supports Iran in safeguarding its sovereignty, security, territorial integrity and national dignity and in upholding its legitimate and lawful rights and interests. He said that China has urged the US and Israel to immediately cease military actions to avoid further escalation of tensions and prevent the conflict from expanding and spreading to the entire Middle East region. China believes that under the current grave and complex situation, Iran will maintain its national and social stability, take seriously the legitimate concerns of neighbouring countries, and ensure the safety of Chinese citizens and institutions in Iran. (At least one Chinese citizen has so far been killed as a result of US-Israeli aggression.)
In his conversation with his Chinese counterpart, Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi noted that under Oman’s mediation, Iran-US negotiations made unprecedented progress, yet regrettably, the US and Israel have cast aside the existing outcomes of the talks and launched a war. If the war continues, it will lead to more casualties and property losses. All parties should work together for an early ceasefire.
Wang Yi said that China appreciates Oman’s active mediation in advancing the negotiations between Iran and the US and its tremendous efforts for safeguarding regional peace. Despite progress in the talks, the US and Israel deliberately provoked a war against Iran, which clearly violates the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.
Regarding the spillover of the conflict to states in the Persian Gulf that harbour aggressive US military bases, Wang Yi pointedly noted that China expects that Gulf states will enhance their independence, oppose external interference, develop good neighbourliness, and strengthen solidarity and coordination, so as to truly hold their future firmly in their own hands.
In his call with Wang Yi, French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot shared his country’s perspective on the current situation in the Middle East, underscoring that France and China, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, have special responsibility for upholding international peace and security. The US and Israel did not seek the opinions from the UN Security Council regarding their military action against Iran, nor did they obtain authorisation from the Council. All parties should work together to de-escalate the tensions and resolve such issues as the Iranian nuclear issue through negotiation. China has maintained good relations with both Iran and other Gulf states. France looks forward to joining hands with China to proactively ease the situation in the region.
Wang Yi reiterated China’s principled position, stressing that the international community should reject any act that violates international law and refrain from applying double standards. Major countries must not be allowed to attack others at will with their military might, nor should the world revert to the law of the jungle. China hopes that France will uphold an objective and just position, remain calm and rational, and work with China to de-escalate the situation, jointly safeguarding the basic norms of international relations.
On March 3, Wang Yi spoke with the foreign minister of the Zionist entity Gideon Sa’ar.
Wang pointed out that recent negotiations between Iran and the US had been making notable progress, which also took into account Israel’s security concerns. Regrettably, this process has been disrupted by military strikes. China opposes such strikes launched by Israel and the US against Iran. The use of force cannot truly solve problems. China calls for immediate cessation of military actions to prevent the conflict from further escalating and spiraling out of control. Wang further called on Israel to take concrete measures to ensure the safety and security of Chinese personnel and institutions.
The following brief article by Brian Berletic, originally published on his Twitter/X, addresses a question that has been raised by some anti-imperialist commentators since the launch of the criminal US-Israeli war on Iran: why has China not directly intervened militarily to stop this aggression. Berletic argues that the answer lies primarily in structural and military realities rather than political will.
First, he explains that, in stark contrast to the US, China’s military doctrine focuses on defending its own borders and deterring threats along its periphery. As a result, it lacks the logistical infrastructure and global deployment capacity necessary to intervene in a distant conflict such as a war in West Asia.
Second, he highlights the extensive regional military network the US has spent decades building around Iran. This includes bases, logistics hubs, air defence systems and political alliances with multiple regional states, as well as military occupations in Iraq and Syria. To directly counter a US military operation in this environment, China would need a comparable network of bases and alliances in the region – something it neither possesses nor seeks to establish.
Third, he argues that China deliberately avoids building influence through military domination or occupation, which differentiates its foreign policy from that of the US. Attempting to match Washington’s global military posture would require a fundamentally different approach to foreign relations.
Instead, Berletic suggests China’s support for Iran takes less direct and obvious forms: economic cooperation to mitigate sanctions, technological assistance for domestic defence production, and supplies of military equipment.
He concludes that the constraints facing China – and similarly Russia – reflect practical limits rather than indifference, warning that blaming them for US actions ultimately deflects responsibility from Washington.
Why isn’t China intervening to stop the US war of aggression against Iran?
Somehow this is still a question people are asking, so I will explain.
China’s military is built to defend China within and along its borders against a massive and growing US military build-up all along its peripheries ongoing for decades.
Its forces are organized around hardware designed specifically for this purpose – not to project military power around the globe like the US does – and the US has these capabilities because it is an aggressor – not for national defense.
China literally has no ability to project the military power required to confront and successfully stop a full-scale US war of aggression on the other side of the planet with the capabilities it has for national defense;
In order to launch this war on Iran – the US spent decades building up a network of global and regional bases, logistical networks, ammunition depots, fuel dumps, regional integrated air defense capabilities etc. to first encircle Iran – then attack it.
China would be required to create an equal or greater network throughout the region to stop this- and this simply isn’t possible;
The US built its network up through both politically capturing nations in the region (Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait) and invading/occupying them (Iraq & Syria).
China simply doesn’t conduct its foreign policy this way – because if it did – it would be just as bad as the US itself;
If you think China could simply project military power over the horizon – this is even more difficult and unrealistic. This requires huge amounts of long-range aircraft, immense aerial refueling capabilities, and long-range munitions as well as forward bases at least near the region to do so.
Sending naval vessels would simply place them at the mercy of a better prepared and more extensive military positions the US has established over decades as explained above;
What China has likely done is all that it could do – provide economic support against illegal US sanctions, provide technical/material support for Iran’s military industrial production, provide military support through the transfer of weapons and equipment.
All of these have their limits especially in terms of the transfer of military equipment to Iran – which takes YEARS to train Iranian personnel on EFFECTIVELY, as well as to integrate it through training in modern combined arms operations.
This last point regarding the amount of time it takes to effectively integrate new military hardware into a military is exactly why Ukraine has failed to absorb and fully utilize floods of Western weapons and equipment in the US proxy war on Russia being waged there.
CONCLUSION
There are real-world limitations on what nations like Russia and China can do against US wars of aggression elsewhere especially considering the fact the US is waging proxy war on both Russia and China at the same time it wages direct war on Iran.
Russia and China are doing what is realistic and within their capabilities – and are constantly expanding their own capabilities in order to do more when possible.
Do not confuse real limitations with a lack of concern or will – and realize blaming Russia or China for a US WAR OF AGGRESSION simply serves Washington’s agenda – not Iran’s or any of its allies.
China has expressed its firm opposition to and strong condemnation of the brazen US and Israeli aggression against Iran and the murder of the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
In an immediate reaction, following the start of the aggression on February 28, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that China is highly concerned over the military strikes against Iran launched by the US and Israel, adding that Iran’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity should be respected.
The same day, the United Nations Security Council met in emergency session in New York.
Ambassador Fu Cong said: “Today, the United States and Israel brazenly launched military strikes against targets inside Iran, causing a sudden escalation of regional tensions. China is deeply concerned about this development. China consistently advocates that all parties should abide by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and opposes and condemns the use or threat of force in international relations. China stresses that the sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity of Iran and other regional countries must be respected.”
Speaking on a day when a US-Israeli air strike in the south of Iran hit a primary school, killing at least 148 people, the majority of them schoolgirls, and injuring at least 95 others, Fu added:
“China is deeply saddened by the large number of civilian casualties caused by the conflict. At all times, the red line for protecting civilians in armed conflict must not be crossed, and the indiscriminate use of force is unacceptable.”
He also stated that: “China calls for an immediate cessation of military actions to prevent further cycles of escalation. The military strikes occurred at a time when the US and Iran were engaged in diplomatic negotiations, which is shocking. The parties concerned should demonstrate political sincerity, resume dialogue and negotiations as soon as possible, and return to the right track of a political solution.”
On March 1, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated that, “China firmly opposes and strongly condemns the attack and killing of Iran’s supreme leader.”
The attack and killing of Iran’s supreme leader is a grave violation of Iran’s sovereignty and security, said the spokesperson, adding that it tramples on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and basic norms in international relations.
On the same day, Foreign Minister Wang Yi discussed the situation in a telephone call with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
Wang said that it is unacceptable for the United States and Israel to launch strikes on Iran during the Iran-US negotiations, adding that it is also unacceptable for them to blatantly kill the leader of a sovereign state and incite government change. These actions violate international law and basic norms of international relations.
Wang summarised China’s position in three points:
An immediate cessation of military operations.
A prompt return to dialogue and negotiations.
A joint opposition to unilateral actions. Striking sovereign countries without authorisation of the UN Security Council undermines the foundation of peace established after World War II. The international community should send a clear message against any regression to the law of the jungle.
Sergei Lavrov said that Russia shares the same position with China and stands ready to strengthen coordination and communication with the Chinese side to send a clear signal through platforms such as the UN and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, calling for an immediate cessation of the war and a return to diplomatic negotiations.
The following articles were originally published by the Xinhua News Agency and on the website of China’s Permanent Mission to the UN.
“For a Common Cause: From the Spanish Battlefield to China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression,” is the title of a major exhibition which opened in August at Beijing’s Museum of the Communist Party of China (CPC), marking the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. It will run till the end of 2025.
Through more than 260 photographs, 150 cultural relics and historical footage, the exhibition shows how anti-fascist volunteers of the International Brigades fought bravely on both the Spanish and Chinese battlefronts – unfolding an inspiring chapter of mutual aid in the global struggle against fascism.
A feature article published by the Xinhua News Agency on November 27 notes that: “The International Brigades mobilised over 40,000 volunteers from more than 50 countries to defend the Spanish Republic against forces including those sent from fascist Italy and Nazi Germany during its civil war (1936-1939). They fought in brutal battles such as the Defence of Madrid and the Battle of Jarama, where an estimated 10,000 lives were lost.”
It adds that less widely recognised is the Chinese contribution to this history. Among the International Brigades’ volunteers were more than 100 Chinese, many of whom were CPC members.
One prominent figure was Xie Weijin, who fought under the alias Lin Jishi. He fought in pivotal engagements, sustained two battle wounds, and narrowly avoided amputation. Beyond the frontline, Xie established an orphanage for over 100 children.
In a 1938 speech, Xie crystallised the shared struggle: “The Spanish and Chinese peoples are in a very tense phase of struggle… They are waging a revolutionary war for the national and social liberation of their respective countries, leading the fight against fascism…”
After the International Brigades were withdrawn from Spain that year, a number of internationalist fighters made their way to China, which was the main anti-fascist battlefield in the east. Among them was the Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune. After pioneering a mobile blood-transfusion service in Spain, he arrived in north China in 1938. There, he famously worked 40-hour shifts and championed setting up operating tables near the front lines. Alongside other international medical workers, Bethune saved countless lives and revolutionised battlefield medicine in China.
The following article was originally published by the Xinhua News Agency.
“There’s a valley in Spain called Jarama. It’s a place that we all know so well. It was there that we gave of our manhood, where so many of our brave comrades fell.”
These plaintive strains of the folk ballad “Jarama Valley” are more than a memorial — they are a portal to the stories of the International Brigades. This diverse group of anti-fascist fighters, drawn from across continents, now takes center stage in a touching exhibition in Beijing.
Titled “For a Common Cause: From the Spanish Battlefield to China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression,” the ongoing exhibition opened in August at the Museum of the Communist Party of China (CPC), marking the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
Through more than 260 photographs, 150 cultural relics and historical footage, the exhibition shows how anti-fascist volunteers of the International Brigades fought bravely on both the Spanish and Chinese battlefronts — unfolding an inspiring chapter of mutual aid in the global struggle against fascism.
“This marks the first time China has contextualized the two battlefields within a single exhibition space, underscoring the united anti-fascist spirit of people across the world,” said Zhao Jiaojian, planner of the exhibition, which will run through the end of 2025.
A staff member introduces exhibits to visitors at the exhibition titled “For a Common Cause: From the Spanish Battlefield to China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression” held at the Museum of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 14, 2025. (Xinhua/Yin Gang)
BATTLES IN SPAIN
Organized by the Comintern — an international communist alliance — the International Brigades mobilized over 40,000 volunteers from more than 50 countries to defend the Spanish Republic against forces including those sent from fascist Italy and Nazi Germany during its civil war (1936-1939). They fought in brutal battles such as the Defense of Madrid and the Battle of Jarama, where an estimated 10,000 lives were lost.
Less widely recognized is the Chinese dimension of this chapter. Among the International Brigades’ volunteers were more than 100 Chinese, many of whom were CPC members.
One prominent figure was Xie Weijin, who fought under the alias Lin Jishi. A multilingual individual with military training, Xie rose to lead the Chinese volunteers and serve as the political commissar of an artillery brigade.
He fought in pivotal engagements, sustained two battle wounds, and narrowly avoided amputation. Beyond the frontline, Xie established an orphanage for war-orphaned children, which provided shelter for over 100 children by 1938.
In a speech delivered that year, Xie crystallized the shared struggle: “The Spanish and Chinese peoples are in a very tense phase of struggle… They are waging a revolutionary war for the national and social liberation of their respective countries, leading the fight against fascism…”
Their contributions were acknowledged back in China. A replica of the red banner sent by then CPC leaders to the volunteers in Spain is now displayed at the Beijing exhibition, bearing the inscription: “Unite the peoples of Spain and China! Down with the common foe of mankind — the Fascists!”
The heroic deeds of the volunteers, exemplified by figures like Xie, demonstrated “a commitment to justice that crossed national borders, and constituted an indelible chapter in the global fight against fascism that should never be forgotten,” said Jiang Ying, researcher of the Academy of Military Sciences.
A visitor views a photo of Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune at the exhibition titled “For a Common Cause: From the Spanish Battlefield to China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression” held at the Museum of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 14, 2025. (Xinhua/Yin Gang)
THE EASTERN FRONT
As the Spanish Civil War drew to a close in 1938, the International Brigades were officially withdrawn. Following a period of internment in France, the Chinese volunteers returned home to join in China’s nationwide resistance against Japanese aggression.
Yet the tide of internationalism did not recede — it flowed eastward. Foreign fighters redirected their focus from Spain to China, which had become the main theater of the World Anti-Fascist War in the East.
Among these volunteers, the most renowned was Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune, a household name in China. After pioneering a mobile blood-transfusion service in Spain, he arrived in north China in 1938. There, he famously worked 40-hour shifts and championed setting up operating tables near the front lines. Alongside other international medical workers, Bethune saved countless lives and revolutionized battlefield medicine in China.
They were joined by journalists and artists who documented the Chinese people’s arduous struggle for the rest of the world. Among them, Hungarian-American photographer Robert Capa captured the war’s brutal reality in 1937, while Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens arrived in 1938 to produce “The 400 Million” — the first Western documentary to portray China’s resistance in a positive light, galvanizing global support.
“In this exhibition, I can clearly see how the Chinese people assisted foreign revolutionaries and how foreign revolutionaries assisted the Chinese people,” said Lin Tao, a doctoral student at Hunan Normal University, while visiting the exhibition.
This photo taken on Nov. 14, 2025 shows photographic works by Hungarian-American photographer Robert Capa displayed at the exhibition titled “For a Common Cause: From the Spanish Battlefield to China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression” at the Museum of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Yin Gang)
Many young Chinese visitors like Lin have been profoundly moved by the exhibition, which also highlights the pivotal contributions of International Brigades anti-fascist fighters on the Chinese battlefield.
Decades later, China continues to honor this international solidarity. On the occasion of marking the 80th anniversary of its victory in World War II on Sept. 3 this year, the nation expressed sincere gratitude to the foreign governments and individuals who aided its people.
China was the first country to rise against fascist aggression with the longest-lasting resistance that began in 1931. The country tied down and struck over half of Japan’s overseas forces, at the cost of 35 million military and civilian casualties — accounting for approximately one-third of all WWII casualties worldwide.
“The exhibition aims to deepen the understanding that the Chinese people, at a tremendous national cost, made significant contributions to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War,” Zhao told Xinhua.
“Meanwhile, the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression received extensive support from the international community, and the Chinese people will forever cherish these contributions. China will continue to work hand in hand with the rest of the world — and strive tirelessly to build a brighter future for humanity,” Zhao added.
Over the past two months, the US has been engaged in an alarming military buildup around Venezuela, launching lethal strikes in international waters and openly weighing plans for direct attacks on Venezuelan territory. It is the largest US military concentration in the region in decades.
The arrival of the USS Gerald R Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, along with three destroyers and more than 5,500 troops, has heightened fears of imminent assault. The Ford joins roughly 10,000 US troops already stationed in the region. Ostensibly, these deployments are to counter drug trafficking, but Washington has provided exactly zero to substantiate any such threat. Since early September, US forces have carried out at least 19 airstrikes, killing nearly a hundred people on boats in international waters. These attacks have been widely denounced as being extrajudicial killings and blatant violations of international law.
The article below, written by CODEPINK activists Megan Russell and Michelle Ellner for Counterpunch, argues that the escalation against Venezuela is part of a multi-front war – domestically through repression and abroad through sanctions, tariffs, proxy wars and military aggression – to maintain US hegemony; to assert control over natural resources; and to subvert the global trajectory towards a multipolar world. The US push for war against both China and Venezuela “is but a violent reaction to the impending truth that US hegemonic status is slipping, and with it, its control on global resources, political power, and the ability to dictate the terms of development and sovereignty for the rest of the world.”
A similar point is made by Jeremy Corbyn in a piece for the Stop the War Coalition, in which he writes that the attack on Venezuela “is about the United States reasserting power in its (imperially named) ‘backyard’. It is no coincidence that this action is being taken at a time when countries in Latin and South America are looking increasingly towards BRICS trading partners, particularly China. Military intervention is just one part of a concerted assault on multipolarity.”
Megan and Michelle observe that China’s growing partnership with Venezuela provides a crucial counterweight to US hegemonism. Through loans, infrastructure projects, and friendly, mutually respectful relations, China has provided indispensable support for Venezuela’s sovereign development.
China has, over the past few decades, maintained a strong alliance with Venezuela. Starting in the early 2000s, China began providing Venezuela with tens of billions of dollars in loans to be repaid in oil shipments. This has enabled Venezuela to fund social programs and infrastructure while bypassing Western-controlled financial systems like the IMF and World Bank… China has also helped Venezuela build railways, housing projects, and telecommunications infrastructure as part of its broader Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to foster development across the Global South.
In response to this latest escalation, China has taken a clear and principled stand, continuing to develop its bilateral cooperation with Venezuela and roundly condemning the US’s “unilateral and excessive enforcement operations”, stressing that these violate international law and the UN Charter. China has urged the US to return to proper judicial cooperation frameworks rather than acting as a self-appointed global policeman. In contrast to Washington’s coercion, China’s position rests on respect for sovereignty and international law, and an orientation towards peace.
The article concludes with a call for the broadest possible solidarity:
The struggle against US imperialism is a global struggle. To stand with Venezuela, with China, or with any nation resisting domination is to stand for the possibility of a new internationalism rooted in solidarity across borders. That is our task–to connect these struggles, to see in every act of resistance the reflection of our own, and to build a world of shared humanity and global equality.
Everywhere you look, the United States is at war– at home, through military occupation of cities, institutional violence, and state-sanctioned kidnappings, and abroad, through economic coercion, proxy warfare, and endless intervention. In times like these, when it is far too easy to be overwhelmed by the inexhaustible nature of the war machine, we must remember that these are not separate crises, but different fronts of the same struggle. And to resist one is to resist them all.
The enemy, in every case, is U.S. imperialism.
Resistance movements against U.S. imperialism have sprouted up all over the world in response to its indiscriminate violence and disregard for human life. Together, they form the living front of the international left, a network of people and organizations that seek liberation from the same systems of domination and colonial control. While their forms differ, from student encampments to workers’ strikes, the purpose remains the same: an end to empire and the creation of a new multipolar world rooted in the simple truth of our shared humanity and the equal worth of every nation and people.
The alliance between China and Venezuela is part of this broader project. And the U.S. push for war against both nations is but a violent reaction to the impending truth that U.S. hegemonic status is slipping, and with it, its control on global resources, political power, and the ability to dictate the terms of development and sovereignty for the rest of the world.
In the following article, which originally appeared in the Morning Star, Jenny Clegg reflects on the abiding lessons to be drawn from China’s role in the allied victory over fascism in World War II. She points out:
“That China was the first country to resist fascist aggression, its most consistent opponent, fighting for 14 years (1931-45) at a cost of some 35 million casualties, is little understood in Britain: for most people the victory of WWII was won by the West.
“In fact, the Chinese people’s resistance held down some 50 to 60 per cent of Japan’s forces which otherwise would have been used to intensify the fighting in the Pacific and Burma theatres, even opening up a second front against the USSR. Had the USSR not been able to concentrate all its forces against Hitler, the Allies’ war in Europe could well have been lost.”
Jenny, whose father Arthur Clegg led the work of the China Campaign Committee in the 1930s and 1940s, was one of the delegation of family members of those foreign friends and comrades who supported the Chinese people during the war, who were invited to Beijing to attend the 80th anniversary commemoration of victory. She notes:
“China’s display of military defence on September 3 was in total contrast to its weak and divided state in the 1930s in the face of Japanese aggression, a reassurance to the Chinese people that their sacrifices of over eighty years ago would not occur again.”
Chinese society itself was transformed in the course of the war: “Class and gender relations were shattered as the Westernised city-elites began to rebuild their lives in the semi-feudal hinterland, the urban and the rural mixing together… Forging close links between the party, army and rural population, Mao saw resistance as integral to the revolutionary process, transforming the national democratic movement in due course into a social revolution.”
Today: “We cannot understand international developments without understanding the rise of China, and we cannot understand China without understanding both its transformation through war and its transformative role in WWII.”
Jenny presented a similar analysis in her contribution to the webinar on ‘World War Against Fascism: Remembering China’s Role in Victory 80 Years On’, organised by Friends of Socialist China and the International Manifesto Group on September 21.
At China’s Victory Day parade on September 3, Xi Jinping delivered a warning — the world stands at a crossroads between peace and war, and to prevent a catastrophic conflict engulfing the world again, nations must learn from history.
That China was the first country to resist fascist aggression, its most consistent opponent, fighting for 14 years (1931-45) at a cost of some 35 million casualties, is little understood in Britain: for most people the victory of WWII was won by the West.
In fact the Chinese people’s resistance held down some 50 to 60 per cent of Japan’s forces which otherwise would have been used to intensify the fighting in the Pacific and Burma theatres, even opening up a second front against the USSR. Had the USSR not been able to concentrate all its forces against Hitler, the Allies’ war in Europe could well have been lost.
Japan’s expansion into the Pacific in 1941 forced Churchill and Roosevelt to recognise China as an ally and an equal. Britain abrogated the Unequal Treaties (barring Hong Kong) in January 1943, and, as an allied power, China became a founding member of the United Nations in 1945. Why has all this been forgotten in the West and why should we remember this today?
China’s display of military defence on September 3 was in total contrast to its weak and divided state in the 1930s in the face of Japanese aggression, a reassurance to the Chinese people that their sacrifices of over eighty years ago would not occur again.
China’s war dates from Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in 1931, an aggression which shattered the League of Nations’ fragile structure of peace. Local resistance was brutally suppressed but Chiang Kaishek chose instead to concentrate his forces against the CPC’s bases.
Beyond words of condemnation, the world’s major powers took no action, emboldening Japan and the forces of fascism worldwide further. Japan’s invasion of 1937, following the 1936 German-Japan Anti-Comintern pact, was an act of world war. Under pressure from the left wing of the KMT, Chiang ended the anti-communist drive, joining the CPC-initiated United Front to resist the aggression.
The Chinese people stood virtually alone. While Britain leaned towards appeasement, even closing China’s supply route along the Burma Road in 1940, US loans came too little and too late. For a couple of years, the USSR supplied military and financial aid, sending advisers and volunteer pilots under a secret agreement with the KMT. The heroic 10-month stand of Wuhan in 1938 against grinding Japanese savagery, gained China a high international profile.
The following article, originally published by China Daily, movingly describes the little known but heroic story of the guerrilla struggle waged under the leadership of the Communist Party of China against the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.
Journalist Li Xiang writes: “The agonised cry, ‘If I die, avenge me!’ has echoed in Lam Chun’s mind for 82 years. It was May 1943 in Kowloon City, when Japanese soldiers dragged her 23-year-old sister, Lam Chin, into their home. The accusation was theft – a charge fabricated after she rejected a soldier’s advances. A laundry worker at the Japanese barracks, Lam Chin was subjected to a relentless beating, with rifle butts smashing against her bones.”
“That day left a deep impression on me,” Lam Chun, now 90, recalled. “It wasn’t a day for just our family’s shame, but also the nation’s suffering.”
What her tormentors didn’t know was that Lam Chin was secretly smuggling intelligence for guerrillas led by the Communist Party of China in their fight to liberate Hong Kong.
That night, as her family dressed her wounds, Lam Chin revealed her secret. A former leader in the student movement supporting the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), she had long been fighting back. Her suffering, coupled with this revelation, became a call to arms – not just for vengeance, but for victory.
“If we’re beaten for no reason at home, we might as well fight,” Lam Chun remembered her mother declaring.
Within months, Lam Chun, her mother, and her brother joined the Hong Kong Independent Battalion – her sister’s unit. Nearly 1,000 strong and composed almost entirely of locals, the battalion became a relentless foe to Japan after its December 8, 1941, invasion of Hong Kong.
The then-British colony’s defences collapsed in just 18 days – a swift defeat that historians see as emblematic of Britain’s halfhearted commitment to defending the colony.
Now, as the last survivors fade, their stories – once buried under colonial and wartime politics – have resurfaced. Their resistance played a crucial role in the broader Allied effort to defeat fascism and weaken the Japanese war machine.
“Many Hong Kong families joined the resistance together – fighting as one,” said Lam Chun, now President of the Society of the Veterans of the Original Hong Kong Independent Battalion of the Dongjiang Column, which documents this wartime heroism.
Few embodied this spirit more than the Law family of Sha Tau Kok, with nine of its 11 members taking up arms as guerrillas. Born in 1930, Law King-fai grew up amid the resistance efforts. His childhood was defined by the cause and even as a toddler he was taught patriotic songs.
“Fight the Japanese, fight the Japanese! Down with Japanese imperialism, protect our homeland!” the 95-year-old recalled, singing along.
Hong Kong is launching a series of events to educate its youth on national history and commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory in the war. The initiative includes exhibitions, workshops, film screenings, and exchange tours to historical sites on the Chinese mainland. “It’s not fair for those who gave their lives decades ago that today’s Hong Kong youth don’t even know the history,” Chan Hoi-lun said, citing the colonial-era authorities’ neglect of local efforts to fight Japanese aggression. Chan Hoi-lun is the daughter of Tsau Sheung-ling, who played a key role in one of the war’s boldest missions, in which over 800 Chinese cultural figures, their relatives, and soldiers of international allies were smuggled out of occupied Hong Kong.
At a recent forum, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu underscored the city’s significant role in China’s war efforts. He cited the city’s work in shipping war supplies, rescue operations, and front-line defence, embodied by brave groups like the Hong Kong Independent Battalion.
In a recent interview with China Daily, Hong Kong lawmaker Chan Yung, Vice Chair of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), said that while history education has improved significantly since the 1997 handover, more must be done to strengthen the understanding of national history, particularly amid current global tensions.
The agonized cry, “If I die, avenge me!” has echoed in Lam Chun’s mind for 82 years.
It was May 1943 in Kowloon City, when Japanese soldiers dragged her 23-year-old sister, Lam Chin, into their home. The accusation was theft — a charge fabricated after she rejected a soldier’s advances.
On September 22, the Chinese Embassy in Ireland hosted a reception to celebrate the 76th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and 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. Chinese Ambassador Zhao Xiyuan and Ceann Comhairle [Speaker of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament] Verona Murphy delivered speeches.
In his speech, Ambassador Zhao Xiyuan said: “Over the past 76 years, under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people have forged ahead with determination, continuously advancing Chinese modernisation. These 76 years have also seen China making increasingly significant contributions to world peace, global development, and the progress of humanity. China has historically eradicated absolute poverty, lifting over 800 million people out of destitution and achieving the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’s poverty reduction goal a full decade ahead of schedule, contributing more than 70% to global poverty alleviation. Since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative, over 40 million people in developing countries have been lifted out of poverty.”
He added that: “While celebrating these achievements, China will never forget its journey. Eighty years ago, China was a war-torn and impoverished nation just extricating itself from foreign aggression. China had borne 35 million casualties, accounting for one third of total lost lives in the Second World War. The Western front of the Second World War is often marked by Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939. Yet even earlier, on September 18, 1931, the Chinese people fired the first shot of resistance against Japanese aggression in Northeast China, marking the beginning of the Eastern front. China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was the earliest, longest, and most costly campaign of the global Anti-Fascist War. China’s victory on the Eastern front prevented Japanese militarism from joining forces with European fascists, making a vital contribution to the final victory of the Second World War.
“China, though ravaged by war, was never isolated. Doctors, journalists, merchants, and artists from around the world came to China, transforming scalpels, typewriters, and cameras into instruments of rescue. Chinese people will always remember Father Patrick Maurice Connaughton, an Irish bishop born in Galway, who actively raised funds for Chinese people during the war, provided relief to displaced civilians, and supported the education of children amid the devastation of war.”
He also said that: “Over the 46 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, China and Ireland have deepened exchanges and cooperation across politics, economy, science and technology, and culture, bringing tangible benefits to both peoples. China appreciates Ireland’s commitment to the one-China policy and is ready to work together to implement the consensus reached by the two state leaders, strengthen high-level mutual trust, deepen high-quality cooperation, and advance our Strategic Partnership of Mutual Benefit, jointly contributing to a more peaceful, stable, and prosperous future.
The Xinhua News Agency recently carried an article on how a discovery, “tucked away in Manchester’s People’s History Museum, a fragile, yellowing notebook – its cover emblazoned with bold red letters reading ‘E.R.C (The East River Column) and the Allies’ – bears witness to one of the World Anti-Fascist War’s most extraordinary partnerships.”
“It is the first time that an archive drafted and collected by Raymond Wong, or Huang Zuomei, has been discovered by Xinhua. This rare document sheds new light on the story of the East River Column, a resistance force led by the Communist Party of China in southern China that fought Japanese aggressors… Its rediscovery offers a vivid reminder of how Chinese and other allied forces once stood shoulder to shoulder against fascism.”
The East River Column was primarily active in Guangdong Province and in Hong Kong, including the New Territories.
In June 1947, the London Gazette listed Wong as one of the recipients of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), awarded by King George VI, “for services to the Forces during military operations in South-East Asia prior to 2nd September 1945.”
One entry in the notebook recalls February 11, 1944, when US pilot Donald Kerr from the Chinese-American Composite Wing was shot down by Japanese forces over Hong Kong. Two female guerrillas from the East River Column found him in the New Territories and escorted him to safety. Kerr later penned a heartfelt letter of gratitude, which is now part of the collection.
The records detail at least 80 allied servicemen rescued by the East River Column, including British soldiers, Indian troops and American pilots. General Claire Lee Chennault, commander of the US 14th Air Force, reportedly cabled that “without your utmost cooperation, the result of this war would be very difficult to accomplish.”
In 1947, Wong was a co-founder of the London Bureau of the Xinhua News Agency. Its first office was in Soho’s Gerard Street, which today is the centre of London’s Chinatown. However, at the time, Gerard Street had no Chinese connections, with London’s first Chinatown being in East London’s Limehouse.
It is interesting to note that the Hong Kong branch of the Chinese Seamen’s Union (CSU) was instrumental in the formation of the East River Column. One of Wong’s co-founders of the Xinhua London Bureau was the Jamaican-born Sam Chinque ( Chen Tiansheng; Sam Chen), who had organised and led the CSU’s Liverpool Branch.
The Xinhua article continues: “Wong’s devotion to his country was indeed profound. After founding Xinhua’s London Bureau in 1947, he returned to Hong Kong and served as the director of the Hong Kong branch of Xinhua News Agency in 1949. In April 1955, Huang was killed aboard the Kashmir Princess, the aircraft destroyed by a bomb planted by Kuomintang agents en route to Indonesia’s Bandung Conference.”
It is widely believed that the aircraft was bombed in the mistaken belief that Premier Zhou Enlai was to travel on it to Bandung.
A detailed study of the East River Column, ‘East River Column – Hong Kong Guerrillas in the Second World War and After’ by Chan Sui-jeung was published by Hong Kong University Press in 2009 and is distributed by The University of Chicago Press.
The following article was originally published by the Xinhua News Agency.
Tucked away in Manchester’s People’s History Museum, a fragile, yellowing notebook — its cover emblazoned with bold red letters reading “E.R.C (The East River Column) and the Allies” — bears witness to one of the World Anti-Fascist War’s most extraordinary partnerships.
The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) (CPCML) issued a special supplement of their online newspaper on September 6 to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
In its opening article, CPC(ML) writes: “The contribution made by the peoples of China to the cause of liberating humankind from the scourge of Nazi fascism and Japanese militarism and ending World War II was colossal.
“On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Chinese people’s war of resistance against Japanese aggression and the victory of the worldwide Anti-Fascist War, the peoples of the world pay homage to the 35 million Chinese who died in that war and all the heroes who faced the Japanese onslaught and its unprecedented brutality. They join the Chinese people in recalling the events of the war, the leadership of Mao Zedong, one of the outstanding revolutionary anti-imperialist fighters of the 20th century, and in recognising their contributions.”
The party notes that, “Events have recalled the events which took place and the heroism of the people, fully aware that their exceptional courage and ingenuity pinned down some 1.86 million Japanese soldiers, 50 per cent of its total force, preventing their deployment elsewhere,” adding, “Japan has never recognised the heinous crimes it committed in China during its 14 years of occupation.”
But as the article, notes, between 1942 and 1945, the Japanese military carried out the ‘Three-Alls’ Policy against the Chinese people: kill all, burn all and loot all. Besides committing massacres of civilians like the Rape of Nanjing and using biological and germ warfare against the people, the Japanese abducted close to 200,000 Chinese women and girls, forcing them into sex-slavery for the Japanese military. Close to 100 million people were displaced and became refugees.
On the auspicious occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Chinese people’s victory, the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) pays its deepest respects to the heroic Chinese people and the peoples of Asia who, organised and led by the communists, stopped the Japanese aggressors in their tracks. Along with the Soviet Red Army and the anti-fascist forces of the world, they secured the peace.
CPC(M-L) salutes the Chinese people and their stunning accomplishments in liberating China and turning it into a modern nation, second to none.
CPC(M-L) also pays tribute to the Canadian communist, Dr. Norman Bethune, whose internationalism and selfless medical services to the Chinese people’s war of resistance are the foundation of the fraternal ties of peace and friendship between the Canadian and Chinese people. This friendship is bound to prevail as together the peoples of the world rise to the challenge of coming revolutionary storms.
CPC(M-L) decries the absence of a high-level Canadian delegation in Beijing for China’s Victory Day Celebrations. Canada has joined the US and NATO countries in boycotting the celebrations, thus refusing to acknowledge China’s contributions to the fight against Nazi fascism and Japanese militarism. So too, these warmongering governments boycotted this year’s Victory Day celebrations in Russia on the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi fascism in Europe.
CPC(M-L) also condemns Canada’s participation in war exercises the US is holding in the Asia-Pacific to threaten China. Particularly shameful are the war exercises held on the occasion of the V-Day celebrations, with Japan playing a leading role.
“For Canada to condone this and refuse to join the celebrations, is unacceptable. While the government boycotts the 80th Anniversary events, the peoples of Canada and worldwide join the Chinese peoples in celebrating these victories.
