BEIJING, Sept 19:
China on Thursday marked the 94th anniversary of the September 18 ‘Mukuden Incident’, which triggered the Manchurian Incident and Imperial Japan’s subsequent occupation of northeastern China, with ceremonies and commemorative events that reignited concerns of rising anti-Japanese sentiment among Japanese residents in the country.
The September 18, 1931, incident, in which Imperial Japanese forces staged a railway explosion in Shenyang and blamed China, paved the way for Japan’s occupation of Manchuria and 14 years of military rule.
During this period, Chinese resistance fighters waged an underground struggle, which indirectly contributed to the Allied victory in World War II, as majority of Japanese troops were engaged in culling the movement. The date is officially commemorated in China as a “day of national shame.”
About 1,000 people attended Thursday’s remembrance in Shenyang, where a bell was struck 14 times to mark the years of occupation and air-raid sirens sounded at 9:18 a.m., recalling the date of the incident.
State broadcaster CCTV emphasised the need to remember Japan’s wartime aggression and the sacrifices of Chinese resistance, reports NKH News.
In tandem with the ceremony, Chinese theatres began screening a new film on Unit 731, the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army unit notorious for conducting biological warfare experiments in China.
While morning showings in Beijing drew modest crowds, later screenings sold out, signalling renewed public interest in wartime atrocities.
The commemorations follow Beijing’s high-profile military parade on September 3, marking the 80th anniversary of the end of what it calls the “Chinese people’s war of resistance against Japan.”
The event was attended by President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
September 18 has long been a flashpoint for nationalist sentiment, with Japanese schools in China often shutting down or shifting classes online amid security concerns. This year’s heightened activities and film release have again stirred unease among Japanese expatriates about a potential uptick in hostility.
China’s official narrative continues to highlight Japan’s wartime atrocities and what Beijing views as Tokyo’s insufficient remorse over its many brutalities, which it says is highlighted further by the frequent visit by Japanese officials visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine.
The latest commemorations also come against a backdrop of increasingly tense Sino-Japanese relations, with Chinese military and paramilitary forces regularly challenging Japanese control of the Senkaku islands (Diaoyu in Chinese) in the East China Sea.
The blend of historical remembrance and current geopolitical friction has reinforced concerns that the past remains a potent driver of present tensions between Asia’s two largest economies. (UNI)
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