Joint commemoration vital to end distortion of history

Marking the 70th anniversary of victory in World War II, the year of 2015 serves as an important reminder for all countries, especially those engaged in the enduring war, to look back and prevent the world from sliding into similar unrest.

More than 80 prominent scholars from China and Russia, countries which both played a central part in fighting Fascist forces, exchanged their opinions at a Beijing-based academic conference from June 3 to 4.

Themed "remembering history and co-creating future" and held by the China Institute of International Studies, those at the conference reached a consensus that no country is allowed to seek any form of hegemony by ignoring wartime lessons, irrespective of heated discussion on various topics.

"During the WWII, China was the main battlefield in Asia, with the Soviet Union being the one in Europe.They suffered great sacrifices before claiming the ultimate victory", said Su Ge, the newly appointed president of the CIIS.

It is estimated that Chinese casualties reached 35 million in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945), and about 27 million died or were injured in the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).

"Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's refusal to recognize part of the Potsdam Proclamation, which along with the Cairo Declaration and the United Nations Charter form the postwar world order, is absolutely unacceptable because it attempts to undermine the hard-won peace", said Ruan Zongze, the CIIS's vice president.

"Both countries should spare no efforts to protect the legacies of their wartime cooperation and push for fairer global order", Su added.

Alexander Lukin, director of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations' Center for East Asian and Shanghai Cooperation Organization Studies, also said China and Russia, which have gotten closer recently,should upgrade their comprehensive cooperation to a new height.

Lukin's remark was echoed by Chen Xuehui, a Beijing-based military expert. "The increasingly inclusive and pragmatic military cooperation, for example, can not only strengthen the Beijing-Moscow ties, but also correct the power imbalance in the Asia-Pacific region", Chen said.