China demands Japan develop peacefully

China has urged Japan to follow a peaceful development path on the latest occasion for remembering the Anti-Japanese War.

Thursday is the 83rd anniversary of the "9.18 Incident" that marked the beginning of Japan's invasion of China. Senior Communist Party of China official Liu Yunshan joined citizens to strike a large memorial bell in northeast China's Shenyang, where the incident occurred.

"We commemorate the incident to remember history and the shame that fell upon us, to spread Chinese people's great spirit of loving peace and perseverance and to better maintain world peace," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular news briefing.

"We demand Japan to honor its commitments on historical issues and follow a peaceful development path so as to gain trust from Asian neighbors and the international community with concrete steps," Hong said.

On Sept 18, 1931, Japanese troops blew up a section of railway under their control near Shenyang, and then accused Chinese troops of sabotage as a pretext for attack. They bombarded barracks near Shenyang the same evening, beginning a large-scale armed invasion of northeast China.

China's top legislature has set Sept 3 as an official observance day for victory in the resulting anti-fascist war.