On 25August, H.E.Xie Bohua, Chinese Ambassador to Vanuatu, published an article entitled History is the Best Textbook in Vanuatu's biggest newspaper Daily Post to commemorate the victory of WWII.The following is the full text:

History is the Best Textbook

--Inspirations from the victory of the WW II

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the WWII. 70 years ago, the human beings made their determination to keep themselves from the occurrence of a new world war after they wiped tears and blood off their body when the flames and smoke of the war had dissipated, and cheered that the sky was finally filled with the peace sunshine. In the following 70 years, there has not been a breakout of any world war due to the fact that the mankind's persistence on peace has made peace and development as the theme of the times. There is a Chinese proverb: "Consider the past, and you shall know the future." When we study again the gory history of the WWII and look back the last 70 years of peace and development, three important inspirations come into our mind.

I. Justice prevails over the evil

On 18th September 1931, the Japanese militarists invaded Northeast China by the Mukden incident and firstly forced the Fascist war to the Chinese people. On 7 July 1937, the Japanese troops launched the full-scale aggression war against China and after the fast seizure of Shanghai, Nanjiing, Wuhan, Guangzhhou, Japan's invasion reached the majority of China. On 1 September 1939, the Fascist Germany invaded Poland and their aggressive chariots swung forward in full pursuit in the European land. The whole France fell and the Britain was badly bombed. Moscow was also in imminent danger of falling down. On 7 September 1941, Japan attached Pearl Harbor and started the Pacific War. The Asian-Pacific region was involved in the war. The South Pacific Region including Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji and Vanuatu became an significant theater of the Allies resistance against the Japanese aggression. Then the Anti-Fascist War was fought all over the world.

The war crimes of the Fascist Germany, Japan and Italy are too numerous to record. In December 1937 when the Japanese troops conquered Nanjing, they committed lurid war crimes against humanity such as massacre, rape, arson, robbery. The total of the slaughtered civilians and prisoners of war in the Nanjing Massacre is over 300,000. One third of Nanjing city was destroyed and the loss of property is beyond counting. In Europe, the German Fascists carried out policy of genocide against Jews. Over 6 million Jews in Europe were killed, of whom 1.5 million are children. In 1942, the Japanese army in Philippines abused the prisoners of war from the United States, Britain and Australia and the notorious Bataan death March cost over 10,000 Allied soldiers.

The evil Fascist war put the future of the human civilization on the verge of destruction. On 1 January 1942 when the humanity's destiny was at a critical moment, 26 nations headed by the United States of America, Britain, Soviet Union and China signed the United Nations Declaration, which symbolized the founding of the Anti-Fascist Alliance. In the theaters across Europe, Asia and Africa, the anti-Fascist nations fought hard against the Fascist Germany, Japan and Italy. After tireless and unremitting fights by the people of the Allies including China and Vanuatu, the World War II ended with Japan's unconditional surrender on 15 August1945. The crime of aggression, the war crime and the crimes against humanity committed by the Fascist Germany and Japan were judged by the International Military Courts and the war criminals were given due punishment. The facts proved again that justice prevails over the evil.

II. The collective security system is the bedrock of the 70 year's peace following the WWII

The WWII made the international community represented by the Allies realize that Fascism and militarism are the common enemy to the whole humanity. Also, if the humanity wants to lock the Fascism and militarism into the cage and protect itself from another world war, lessons should be learned from the failure of the League of Nations and a new organization based on the collective security system must be created. And that's how the United Nations came into being.

At the outset, the United Nations Charter defines the purposes of the United Nations as maintaining international peace and security and puts in place safeguard mechanisms to prevent war and uphold peace. The UN Charter not only identifies the rights, responsibilities and duties of UN agencies and the member states, but also authorizes the Security Council to assume primary responsibility for upholding international peace and security and provides that coercive measures must have the mandate of the Security Council and that collective security mechanisms shall replace traditional military alliances and the outdated law of the jungle. The collective security mechanisms led by UN embodies the world's deep reflection over the two world wars and the great yearning of all countries to be free of war, fear and want. The experience in the past 70 years proves that it is the cornerstone of the world peace after WWII and the precondition for the development of all the nations to uphold the equality of all nations regardless of their size, respect the independence and sovereignty of all nations, resolve the disputes through the peaceful means and safeguard the collective security mechanisms centering around UN.

III. Concerted efforts should be made to forge the community of human destiny.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. The heads of state and the government of all members of UN will gather in New York in late September to reflect on history and open up the future.

The history of the 70 years following WWII, especially the years after the end of the Cold War tells that peace and development are the theme of the times and the common dream of the people all over the world. In the general peaceful environment, the 70 years witnesses the national liberation and independence of a number of colonies, the rapid development of the globalization, the fast advances of science and technology, and the great improvement of the people's living standards. However, though a world war has been averted, local wars and various conflicts have been incessant, and non-traditional security threats such as terrorism, climate change, communicable diseases, crop up one after another; though the world economy has grown markedly, the gap between the haves and have-nots remains prominent and the Millennium Development Goals set by UN in 2000 have not yet been achieved; although the historical facts have long been made clear on the war against Fascism, there are still some who are reluctant to recognize the truth and even attempt to overturn the verdict, whitewash past crimes of aggression and challenge the fruit of the victory of WWII, which poses threats to the peace of the region and the world. Under such circumstances, the international community should strengthen cooperation and work together to forge the community of the human destiny so as to bring a better future to the global village.

History is the best textbook. The victory tells the international community the following revelations:

First, disputes should be resolved by peaceful means. Today, globalization makes the interests of all nations interrelated and blended. It should be to uphold the banner of cooperation and win for all to promote disputes to be settled peacefully, because war is not what any peace-loving people want. All nations should learn from the agreement on the Iran nuclear issue and settle the disputes peacefully.

Second, the democratization of international relations should be promoted. It ought to pursue the equality of all nations regardless of the size and when it comes to the UN Security Council reform, it should put more emphasis on the say and the representation of medium and small countries, improve the efficiency of the UN and sound the collective security mechanisms.

Third, concerted efforts should be made to combat against all kinds of non-traditional threats. No country can on its own deal well with non-traditional threats such as terrorism, climate change, communicable diseases like SARS, Ebola, drug and human trafficking. Only concerted efforts of the international community can better cope with non-traditional threats.

Fourth, the gap between the haves and have-nots should be narrowed. It still remains an important task for the international community to help developing countries develop economy and eliminate poverty. In the past 15 years since the UN Millennium Development Goals were proposed, the gap between the haves and the have-nots are still being widened. So the developed countries should shoulder due responsibilities to fulfill the promise of Official Development Aid and promote pragmatic reforms on international economy, trade, finance, science and technology and other areas to bring actual benefits to developing countries so as to lift 70% of the world's population out of poverty and realize the harmony of common development of the whole humanity.