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Image source,Reuters
On Friday (October 23), a meeting was held in Beijing to mark the 70th anniversary of the mission of the Chinese People’s Volunteers abroad to resist US aggression and help Korea. In his speech, Communist Party of China General Secretary Xi Jinping said that when it comes to bullies, you should use a language they understand to speak to them. “This is to stop war for war, stop war by force, win peace and gain respect for victory,” he said.
Xi Jinping reviewed the war with the United States 70 years ago and made a strong statement on foreign policy. Around the same time, in the United States across the ocean, Trump and Biden had their last debate before the presidential election. The confrontation was also involved many times. American relations.
In America, it is a “forgotten war”, in China it is “Resistance to US Aid to Korea”, and on the Korean Peninsula, the scars caused by this war have not yet healed.
Throughout 70 years, the aftermath of the war has not disappeared, not only because the vicinity of the 38th parallel continues to be a military focus of world attention; China and the United States that participated in the war have experienced ice breaking and melting, and have once again come to the opposite of tit-for-tat. The end of the war gave a practical meaning.
Animated Commentary: The Beginning and End of the Korean Peninsula War
What did Xi Jinping say?
The entire memorial meeting was based on Xi Jinping’s speech. He mentioned some noteworthy details.
Xi Jinping said: “In the past 70 years, we have never forgotten the martyrs who died heroically in the war to resist US aggression and help Korea. More than 197,000 heroic sons and daughters gave their precious lives for the homeland, the people and peace “.
After the announcement of the armistice on July 27, 1953, China’s initial statistics were that the number of Chinese People’s Volunteers killed on the Korean battlefield was 1,48977, 220,218 wounded, 25,621 missing, and 21,400 captured.
Since then, the figure has been revised. The Chinese “Literature and History Reference” published in 2010 also stated that a total of 180,000 volunteers were killed in the Korean War.
According to US statistics, the Chinese People’s Volunteers killed more than 400,000 people, injured 486,000 and captured 21,839 on the battlefield in Korea.
The speech at the conference revealed the latest data: 197,000 Chinese died in the Korean War.
Second, regarding the reasons for China’s participation in the war, Xi Jinping said, “At the beginning of the new China, a hundred wastes were waiting to be prospered and all industries were waiting to be promoted. The Chinese people yearned for the peace and tranquility. However, this wish of the Chinese people has been brutally challenged and an imperialist aggression. They imposed war on the Chinese people. “
After this costly local war, many historical materials showed that there were many errors of judgment at the scene of the war between China and the United States.
As far as the United States is concerned, the direct purpose of participating in the war is “to prevent World War III.” Then-President Truman claimed that if communists were allowed to invade South Korea by force without opposition and resistance, there would not be a small country that would have the courage to resist aggression from powerful communist neighbors. Then it would be like the situation before the outbreak of World War II, which led to the Third World. The outbreak of war.
As for China, even on the eve of entering the war, it is reluctant to intervene in this war, because China’s strategic objective is Taiwan, not North Korea.
Ruan Ming, former director of the theoretical research bureau of the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, once reminded the BBC in Chinese: “China was more unexpected because the next step in China was to liberate Taiwan. In fact, Mao Zedong planned this way, and people thought this way. Then suddenly the Korean War broke out. (The Korean War). Mao Zedong went to Moscow in 1949 to talk to Stalin in hope. to liberate Taiwan. Stalin also agreed. In fact, Stalin still seemed to have a hand at the time, which was the deal with Kim Il Sung (the deal to invade South Korea) Mao Zedong didn’t know. “
Until recently, the People’s Daily, China’s official media outlet, expressed similar views in articles commemorating the Korean War: “The reason the Korean War is unforgettable is that it happened at the wrong time. China has just been liberated and everything is waiting to be revived. It also faces the arduous task of hunting down the remaining enemy, and the problems of Taiwan and Tibet must be solved urgently. The untimely war has completely disrupted the national agenda. “
US President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held a historic meeting in Singapore.
A tough statement in a special moment
The timing of the memorial meeting in China is quite interesting.
The Chinese People’s Volunteers entered the Korean battlefield on October 19, 1950; on October 25 the “first battle” was launched, which was then completely victorious. This day was also officially designated as the “Memorial Day to Resist Aggression from the United States and Aid to Korea”; in July 1953. The Korean Armistice Agreement signed at Panmunjom on the 27th.
The memorial meeting did not choose these three dates, but chose October 23, and it was held at the same time as the last debate before the US presidential election. Furthermore, Xi Jinping made a forceful statement in his speech. Although he did not speak his name directly, the outside world generally believed that the intention to call the United States was obvious.
“In today’s world, any unilateralism, protectionism and extreme selfishness are totally impractical! Any method of blackmail, blockade and extreme pressure is totally impractical! Any way of doing things on your own and acting alone! Any act of hegemony, hegemony and intimidation will never work! Not only will it not work at all, it will definitely be a dead end! “
“We will never sit and observe the damage to national sovereignty, security and development interests, and we will never allow anyone or any force to infringe and divide the sacred territory of the homeland. Once such a serious situation occurs, the Chinese people will definitely attack her head-on! “
He said that in the War to Resist America’s Aggression and Aid to Korea, the Chinese people, inspired by the flag of patriotism, shared the same hatred and the same enemy and worked together, letting the world witness the majestic power content in the Chinese people and let the world know that “Now the Chinese people have organized.” You must not be offended. If offended, it is not easy to handle “!
Image source,Reuters
Over the past 70 years, the above statement seems to recall that China-US relations have gone through a cycle: the confrontation between the two countries after the Korean War for almost 30 years. As relations between China and the Soviet Union deteriorated in the 1970s, relations between China and the United States broke the ice; After China’s reform and opening-up in 1978, the relationship between the two countries has become closer. With the help of the United States in 2001, China joined the WTO, embarked on the path of globalization, and became the largest trading partner of the United States. Today, China-US relations are tense again, with comprehensive trade, technology, and diplomacy. In the confrontation, voices began to worry about the possibility of a “hot war”.
According to a BBC reporter in the United States, the United States Department of Defense now believes that dealing with the rise of China will become the main military objective of the United States in the coming decades.
Sino-US relations have turned from close cooperation to mutual distrust. Furthermore, the world is more concerned about the fragile balance of the situation on the Korean peninsula. Once the situation in North Korea suddenly changes and war breaks out, it may once again become a battlefield for the Sino-American confrontation.
What is even more concerning is that, considering China’s current national strength, the intensity and impact of the Second Korean War may no longer be a “forgotten war.”
American security affairs author Michael Peck wrote on National Interests that once a conflict occurs between China and the United States, the risk of losing control is great, because China has shown rapid escalation and rapid victory in past wars and conflicts. Even if negotiations are started during a conflict, they often have to wait until an advantageous position in the conflict is obtained.
