Extensive international cooperation serves as the pillar in victory against fascism

The Second World War was a moment of crisis in the history of mankind. It had a bearing on the survival of civilization and the future of human society. In this contest between civilization and barbarism, the latter once gained the upper hand, conquering more than half of Europe and occupying large areas of China. But eventually, the anti-aggression camp won out.

How did the victory come about? An important factor is that anti-aggression countries carried out the most extensive international cooperation. The broad alliance of countries with different historical and cultural backgrounds, different stages of development, and different ideologies unleashed an energy that was powerful enough to defeat all invaders. The formation of the anti-aggression alliance wasn’t easy, as members had to transcend a narrow view of national security and ideological gaps. But the moment it was formed, the fate of the war was determined.

Transcend borders and embrace the concept of “inseparable peace”

The foundation for extensive international cooperation was that countries transcended the outdated border-based national security concept and replaced it with a new concept for global security that believed “peace was inseparable”.

The scale of World War I was unprecedented, and mankind paid an extremely heavy price. How to prevent another world war? There was much thinking on collective security in the post-war era. The establishment of the League of Nations was an initial attempt to achieve collective security. It was hoped that through coordination and intervention mechanisms, regional wars could be avoided or prevented from turning into world wars. However, this was not recognized or truly accepted by most people. Unlike the First World War, the Second World War was carried out in stages: Japan’s invasion of China, Germany’s invasion of Poland and the Soviet Union, and Japan’s launch of the Pacific War, which eventually formed a full-scale world war. The “inseparable peace” concept was not recognized at the time as people had illusions that they could stay out of wars that took place in remote places. After the September 18 Incident, China filed a complaint with the League of Nations. Although the Lytton Commission was dispatched to China and the report of the Commission criticized Japan to a certain extent, in general, the international community failed to respond effectively to Japan’s invasion of Northeast China, and Japan wasn’t punished for its act of aggression. This actually incited Germany to continue to challenge the international order in Europe without fear of punishment. It can be said that the bane of the Second World War was well planted at the time.

After the outbreak of Japan’s all-out aggression against China, China once again filed a complaint with the League of Nations and the Nine Nations Pact. It vigorously promoted the idea of “inseparable peace” on the global arena on various occasions. The Chinese government clearly pointed out in the “Letter to the World” that “peace is inseparable, and isolationism is unacceptable”, and that “peace in the Far East and the world cannot be maintained if Japanese aggression is not stopped”. Sober-minded politicians in the world also realized that peace was inseparable. In October 1937, President Roosevelt delivered a speech on “Pandemic Prevention and Quarantine”, comparing war to a social plague that would spread, and pointed out that it would endanger people far away from the origin of war. Therefore, peace-loving countries should act to prevent the spread of this social plague. However, Roosevelt’s speech was met with strong opposition from isolationists in the United States, and Roosevelt had to temporarily retreat from his position.

Following Japan’s victory in the battlefield, apart from staying off British and American interests in China in the occupied areas, Japan put forward the slogan of establishing a “New East Asian Order” at the end of 1938, blatantly claiming that the old order was outdated and that it would establish a new, Japan-centered order in East Asia. Japan’s ambitions awakened some insightful Britons and Americans at the time who realized that Japan not only endangered China’s security, it would inevitably threaten the world in the future, and that China was also fighting for the security of the world. Therefore, they urged their governments to adopt a policy of active intervention in the Japanese aggression against China. In the face of the ever-expanding aggression by Germany, Italy and Japan, British and American policies towards China began to change from neutrality to aiding China and gradually embarking on the path of joint resistance against aggression.

The Pearl Harbor incident proved that peace was inseparable. All countries in the world that opposed fascism in Germany, Italy and Japan finally united and formed a strong military alliance. The East and West formed strategic cooperation to contain aggressors, and then reversed the situation in battlefields. The union of the major powers in the East and the West served as the fundamental guarantee for victory.

Transcend ideological gap and jointly safeguard human civilization

Another cornerstone for extensive international cooperation was the transcendence over ideological gap and joint resistance against aggression.

In the 1920s and 1930s, ideological differences were once pronounced, and at times incompatible. However, at a time when human civilization faced an existential crisis, people made wise choices. In China, the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Communist Party(CPC), which had experienced a decade of civil war, dropped their mutual suspicions, and formed the united front against Japanese invasion. The united front between the KMT and CPC became the fundamental guarantee for the victory of the Chinese War of Resistance.

Internationally, ideological confrontation also gave way to national safety. After the outbreak of Japan’s all-out war of aggression against China, the relations between China and the Soviet Union, which were once in sharp ideological antagonism, quickly improved. The Soviet Union gave China tremendous support for its war of resistance. It realized that Japan’s aggression against China would not only endanger the Chinese people, but also threaten the national security of the USSR. In the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, when China was unable to obtain aid from the UK, US and France, the Soviet Union extended a decisive helping hand to China, providing material assistance and even sending volunteer air forces to China to help in the war, which was a major contribution to China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

As the threat to world security loomed larger, countries such as the UK and US played down ideological thinking. In June 1941, when the Soviet Union was invaded by Germany, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered a speech to aid the Soviet Union, stating that in the past 25 years, no one had consistently opposed communism like he did, but now everything changed, and that individuals and nations fighting Nazis would receive British assistance. At the critical moment when the Soviet Union was under existential threat, Britain and the United States, which had long held anti-communism views in the past, quickly stated their positions and took the side of the Soviet Union. Similarly, half a year later, when Japan launched the Pearl Harbor attack and aggressively attacked British and American forces in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, the Soviet Union quickly expressed its support for Britain and the United States. It was by transcending ideological differences that the international anti-Fascist alliance was finally formed.

The Communist Party of China was not only an active advocate of China’s united front against Japanese invasion, but also an active supporter of the international alliance against Fascism. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the CPC immediately issued a manifesto and put forward eight important tasks. The first task was “to form an alliance with the UK, US and other anti-Japanese allies to carry out cooperative operations, and establish a united front in the Pacific, and fight Japan until complete victory”.

Mankind defeated Fascism with close cooperation between countries of different ideologies, the wise choice saved the world.

View history as a mirror and remain committed to international cooperation

Before the end of the war, people were already thinking about how to prevent a new war from happening again? That’s how the largest international organization in the history of mankind – the United Nations and other international organizations were born one after another, manifesting mankind’s attempts to open a new era of international cooperation.

After the end of World War II, despite regional wars in the world continued, no war actually threatened the security of the entire world. After the end of the Cold War, the world experienced a relatively stable era of peace and development. The economies of various countries grew considerably, and people shared the fruits of economic progress to varying degrees. Unfortunately, the world today has once again entered a period of conflicts where various frictions have gradually escalated. The intertwining contradictions in economic development, ideological differences and even domestic governance are causing tensions in international relations. In addition, the coronavirus pandemic is raging around the world, threatening the lives and health of people in all countries. The pandemic overlapped with existing issues and is plunging the world into a moment of crisis. There are two options in the face of this crisis: one is to engage in international cooperation and jointly respond to the crisis; the other is to adhere to egoist positions and put one’s own country first to the degree of absurdity, shirk responsibilities and shift the blame to others.

Regrettably, as the country that once led international cooperation, served as the largest backup base for allied nations in WWII, and participated in or even to some extent dominated the post-war international rulemaking, the United States today has gone wild on the road of unilateralism. In order to maximize its own interests, it has ignored the basic rules, blatantly suppressed other countries, broken the bottom line of international exchanges, and completely abandoned the image created by American sages in the 20th century. Under the aggressive unilateral policies of the United States, the world has entered an unprecedented period of instability since World War II, which is troubling people across the globe who love peace and aspire for prosperity.

History tells us that unswervingly following the path of international cooperation is the only correct choice for mankind to overcome crises and maintain the healthy development of society. Blindly promoting self-centered unilateralism will only lead the world into chaos and an unpredictable abyss. The lessons from World War II are all too obvious.