III. The Main Eastern Battlefield in the Global War against Fascism

The Chinese War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression was an important part of the Global War against Fascism. China was the main battlefield in the East for this war. During this life-and-death struggle, in which good was pitted against evil and light against darkness, the people of China and the anti-fascist forces of other countries formed an international alliance. They supported and coordinated with each other, and eventually defeated the aggressors.

Mao Zedong once stated, "Our enemy is an enemy worldwide, and China's war of resistance is a war of resistance of worldwide significance." [Collected Works of Mao Zedong, Chin. ed, People's Publishing House, Beijing, 1993 Vol. Il, p. 146.]Part of the Global War against Fascism- a war that had a bearing on world peace and human destiny the Chinese War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression started before and lasted longer than any other part of the war. During the Chinese war, more Japanese soldiers were fought and eliminated and the price paid was dearer than in any other war. The role played by this war in securing a complete victory over the Japanese fascists was decisive. 

It was in China that the curtain was first opened on the Global War against Fascism. With war brewing in both the East and the West, World War II was launched by Japanese, German, and Italian fascists. It began with a series of regional wars, which then gradually evolved into a world war. The September 18th Incident devised by Japan marked the beginning of the Japanese invasion into northeast China, and set ablaze the first flames of war in the world's fascists' war of aggression. This disrupted the Versailles-Washington system established by Europe and the United States following World War I and became the first source of war in the East. After this, Germany and Italy created a hotbed of war in the West. German, Japanese and Italian fascists forged an alliance and became the most dangerous common enemy for the rest of the world. While the major Western countries yielded to and tolerated Japanese aggression against China, the Chinese people lifted the banner of anti-fascism, rising in resistance and firing the first shot in the Global War against Fascism. By the time war broke out in Europe in September 1939, China had already been fighting alone in the War of Resistance for eight years, and by the time the Pacific War erupted in December 1941, China had been fighting independently for a decade.

The main battlefield for the fight against fascism in the East was developed in China. The Lugou Bridge Incident, manufactured by Japan in 1937, began Japan's full-scale war of aggression against China in order to subjugate the country. This prompted the Chinese people to wage a nationwide War of Resistance, creating the first battlefield for large-scale fight against fascism in the East. During the stage of Japanese offensives and Chinese defense, the two countries engaged a total of over four million troops in the war, the front was over 1,800 kilometers in length, and battles were fought in more than ten provinces and regions of China. The China Theater covered an area of approximately 1.6 million square kilometers and over 400 million Chinese were involved in the war. The outbreak of the full-scale war between China and Japan is indicative that, by that time, the clash between fascists and those against them was already becoming the main problem confronting the world. Its impact affected the overall international situation and even caused changes in the world order. This was, in reality, the beginning of World War II. The Chinese people's nationwide war of resistance lasted eight years, continuing right up until the end of World War II.

China was fighting and thus pinning down the main bulk of Japan's ground forces throughout, holding back Japan's expansion both northward and southward and acting to guarantee the Allies'execution of the "Europe first"strategy. During World War II, over two thirds of Japan's ground forces and part of its naval and air forces were being fought against or being kept tied up in the China Theater. This fettered the Japanese fascists to the extent that they became bogged down in the mire of protracted war. China's protracted war foiled Japan's plan to expand northward to Siberia so that the Soviet Union did not have to fight simultaneously on both fronts. It also held back and delayed Japan's expansion south, forcing Japan to attend to the China Theater at the same time as attempting to press south. This shattered the strategic attempt by Japan. Germany, and Italy to advance from the east and the west to create their own global hegemony.

An expeditionary force was also sent by China to Burma to fight shoulder to shoulder with other Allied forces against the Japanese. As an important strategic base for the Allied forces fighting the Japanese in the Asia-Pacific, China provided other Allies large quantities of strategic materials and military intelligence and offered them other human, material and financial resources in support of their anti-fascist struggle.

China's protracted war of resistance not only enabled the Soviet Union, the United States and Great Britain to gain valuable time to prepare for war, it also played an important role in making it possible for the Allies to execute the "Europe first" strategy. Soviet marshal V. I. Chuikov once remarked, "During the toughest years of war for us, Japan did not attack the Soviet Union, but flooded China in blood. Anyone with the slightest respect for objective facts cannot fail to consider this obvious and indisputable reality."[V. L. Chuikov, My Mission in China: Notes by a Military Adviser, Chin. ed., Xinhua Publishing House, Beijing, 1980, p. 38.]  US President Franklin D. Roosevelt commented in 1942, "Without China, or if China had been defeated, many more Japanese divisions would have been deployed to other areas and they would have been able to occupy Australia and India immediately without any trouble, and then push to the Middle East.[Elliott Roosevelt, As He Saw It, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, New York, 1946, p. 53.] British Prime Minister Winston Churchill also said, "I must point out that at least fifteen and perhaps twenty Japanese divisions would be freed by the collapse of China. Thereafter a major invasion of India would indeed be possible."[Winston Churchill, The Hinge of Fate: The Second World War, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1950, Vol. 4, p. 164.]

China actively advocated for and put its weight behind the establishment of the international anti-fascist united front and contributed to the founding of the United Nations. The Global War against Fascism was an international war, so establishing an extensive international anti-fascist united front was important in securing victory over the German, Japanese, and Italian aggressors. Not only was China the first to establish a united front against Japanese aggression in the East but it also worked long and hard to build an international anti-fascist united front. When Japan gave rise to the Pacific War and World War II grew to envelop greater swathes of the globe, China took the initiative in strengthening its strategic coordination with the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and others amongst the Allies. It contributed to the official establishment of the international anti-fascist united front and fought side by side with other Allies, helping to create favorable conditions for eventually winning the war. During the later years of the war, China participated in the founding of the United Nations and became one of the five permanent members of its Security Council. As such, it played an important role in completely defeating the fascists.