Chinese President Xi Jinping said Thursday the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War were "a decisive battle between justice and evil, between light and darkness, and between progress and reaction."[Special coverage]
Xi made the remarks while addressing a gathering to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the victory of Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War in downtown Beijing.
"In that devastating war, the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression started the earliest and lasted the longest," he said.
Ravaging through Asia, Europe, Africa and Oceania, that war inflicted over 100 million military and civilian casualties. China suffered over 35 million casualties and the Soviet Union lost more than 27 million lives, according to Xi.
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, he said.
"This great triumph crushed the plot of the Japanese militarists to colonize 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 said.
The president said that this victory also re-established China as a major country in the world and won the Chinese people respect of all peace-loving people around the world.
"This great triumph opened up bright prospects for the great renewal of the Chinese nation and set our ancient country on a new journey after gaining rebirth," he said.
