Chinese President Hu Jintao said today that by holding the grand gathering to remember the war victory 60 years ago, China means to cherish peace and create a better future for the mankind.

"By solemnly commemorating that victory, we will keep history in mind, never forget the past, cherish peace and create a better future," Hu said.

"The great victory won 60 years ago determined the future of the world and has been and will forever be engraved in the minds of all people who love peace and justice," he said.

To refresh the memory should spur us forward to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects and achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, so as to further promote the noble cause of peace and development of the human race, the Chinese President said.

China a main battleground of World Anti-Fascist War

The Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was an important part of the World Anti-Fascist War, and China was its main battleground inthe East, said President Hu.

In the second half of the 19th century, Japan embarked on a road of militarism and launched or participated in a number of wars of aggression, most of which were against China, he said when addressing a grand gathering here marking the 60th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.

In 1931,Japan engineered the September 18th Incident, resulting in its occupation of the three northeastern provinces of China. And it started an all-out war of aggression against China, marked by its shelling of the county seat of Wanping and attack onthe Lugou Bridge on July 7, 1937.

Japanese aggressors devastated large tracts of Chinese territory and occupied most of the major cities, attempting to colonize China and on that basis, annex the rest of Asia and dominate the world, he said.

"The brazen aggression against China by Japanese militarists plunged the country into an unprecedented national crisis," the president said.

At this critical puncture when threatened by national subjugation and racial extinction, the Chinese people refused to be slaves and rose up in a heroic resistance, he said.

The September 18th Incident in 1931 marked the start of their War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and the unrelenting struggle they put up on a local basis was, in fact, the prelude to the World Anti-Fascist War, according to the president.

"The July 7th Incident in 1937 marked the outbreak of the World Anti-Fascist War in the East, in that China's national war of resistance opened the first battleground, massive in scale, in the world war against Fascism," he said.

China will never forget int'l support to its fight against Japanese aggressors

The victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was inseparable from the sympathy and support of all the peace- and justice-loving countries and peoples, international organizations and various anti-Fascist forces, said President Hu.

The Soviet Union was the first to provide invaluable aid to the Chinese people in the war. The United States gave significant support to China's war efforts.The United Kingdom, France and other countries provided China with economic aid or entered into military cooperation with China, according to the president.

Anti-Fascist fighters from Korea, Vietnam, Canada, India, New Zealand, Poland, Denmark, and from Germany, Austria, Romania, Bulgaria and Japan as well, directly took part in China's war of resistance, said the president.

In the last phase of the war, the Soviet Red Army marched into China's northeast battlefields and fought against Japan shoulder to shoulder with the Chinese military and civilians, thus speeding up the doom of Japanese aggressors.

"We will never forget those countries and foreign friends that rendered moral and material support to our war of resistance," he said.

"We will never forget those foreign friends who helped Chinese refugees during the Rape of Nanjing and other massacres," he said.

"We will never forget the American Flying Tigers who fought shoulder to shoulder with the Chinese military and opened up, at the risk of their lives, the Hump Route to deliver strategic supplies to China," Hu said.

In his speech, the president also thanked those foreign medical personnel who traveled long distances to China to help save lives and those foreign journalists who truthfully reported and publicized China's war effort.

The president said that China was also grateful to those foreign military advisors and others who contributed to China's victory of the war, in particular those Soviet Red Army soldiers who laid down their lives heroically in the battlefield of northeast China.

" Forever will the Chinese people remember the invaluable contributions made by people all over the world to the victory of China's war of resistance!" the president said.

China remembering past not meant to continue hatred

Chinese President Hu Jintao said that the nation's emphasis on the need to always remember the past does "not mean to continue the hatred".

"Instead, we want to draw lessons from history and be forward-looking," Hu said, stressing that "only by remembering the past and drawing lessons from it can one avoid the repetition of historical tragedies."

He pointed out that for a long time, there have been forces inJapan that have categorically denied the aggressive nature of the war Japan launched against China and the crimes it committed, and have tried their best to whitewash its militarist aggression and call back the spirit of those Class A war criminals who have been condemned by history.

"Such actions have not only breached the Japanese Government's commitment regarding historical issues, but also shaken the political foundation of the Sino-Japanese relations, thus badly hurting the feelings of the Chinese and other Asian peoples concerned," Hu said.

The President said we hope that the Japanese Government and its leaders will, with a highly responsible attitude toward history, the people and the future, and proceeding from the overall interest of the Sino-Japanese friendship, regional stability and development of Asia, handle historical issues in a serious and prudent manner and translate the apologies and remorse they have expressed for that war of aggression into concrete actions.

Hu also reaffirmed that the policy of the Chinese Government to carry forward the Sino-Japanese friendship and cooperation remains unchanged.

"We will steadfastly seek proper settlement of our dfferences through dialogue and equal-footed negotiations, strengthen our exchanges and cooperation in a broad range of areas and step up friendly interactions between the two peoples for greater mutual understanding and broader common interests," he said.