Gao Fujin: The Global Contributions of China’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression [1]
The year 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. This war of national liberation was the first anti-aggression war in which the Chinese nation achieved complete victory since the [1840] Opium War [1]. Through 14 years of tenacious resistance, the Chinese military and civilians pinned down millions of Japanese military forces at the cost of immense casualties, directly alleviating the massive pressure on the United States in the Pacific theater and indirectly eliminating the danger of "being attacked from both the front and rear" [2] for the European anti-fascist theater. It can be said that the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression opened the main Eastern theater and made a major contribution to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War.
The Main Eastern Theater Pinned Down the Main Forces of the Japanese Army
For a long time, influenced by "Western-centrism," some Western scholars have been unwilling and reluctant to accept the fact that China’s resistance made a huge contribution to the World Anti-Fascist War, subsequently denying the status and role of the Chinese theater. Mao Zedong pointed out: "Our enemy is a global enemy; China’s resistance is a global resistance." The heroic resistance of the Chinese military and civilians not only shattered the arrogant clamor of Japanese militarists to "destroy China in three months," but further disrupted the Japanese army's subsequent "Northward Advance" strategy and undermined their "Southward Advance" plan [3].
The Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression is an inseparable and important part of the World Anti-Fascist War. Since 1995, the Chinese historiographical community has achieved numerous research results in comprehensively evaluating the status and role of China’s resistance. The consensus reached is that China’s resistance opened the world's first anti-fascist theater and is naturally an important component of the World Anti-Fascist War. Likewise, as a major participant in World War II, the resistance of the Chinese military and civilians took the lead in raising the curtain on the World Anti-Fascist War. Especially during the stalemate stage of the war [4], the protracted war directly led by the Communist Party of China (CPC) [5] completely shattered the plot of the German, Japanese, and Italian "Axis" powers to join forces in the Middle East and carve up the world. After the opening of the Pacific theater, the Eastern theater also became the main theater for fighting Japanese fascism. From Northeast to North China, and from Central to South China, the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army [6], guerrilla forces, and various anti-Japanese armed units firmly "tethered" the main force of the Japanese Imperial Army to the Chinese theater from beginning to end. This completely disrupted Japan's plans to "advance north" to attack the Soviet Union and "advance south" to invade Southeast and South Asia.
China’s resistance pinned down the main force of the Japanese Imperial Army. During the period of the Full-Scale War of Resistance [7], the people's army led and commanded by the CPC annihilated more than 520,000 Japanese troops and more than 490,000 puppet troops—a total of over 1.01 million personnel. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, 70% of Japan's army and nearly one-third of its navy were still bogged down by China. According to incomplete statistics, in the eight years between 1937 and 1945 alone, more than 200 major battles and nearly 200,000 large and small engagements occurred in the Chinese theater. A total of more than 1.55 million Japanese troops were annihilated. Including the 1.283 million Japanese troops who surrendered on August 15, 1945, a total of more than 2.8 million Japanese troops were deeply mired in the Chinese theater.
At the same time, statistics and evaluations from the enemy side also prove this conclusion. A 1943 comprehensive combat report from the Japanese North China Area Army Headquarters pointed out: "The majority of the enemy are CPC forces. Contrary to the Chiang [Kai-shek] forces, among the 15,000 engagements this year, operations against the CPC accounted for 75%. Among the 2 million enemy troops engaged, more than half were also CPC forces... While this exposes the weakness of the Chongqing [8] forces, it also illustrates the high morale and combat spirit of the CPC forces." This fully proves that the military forces led by the CPC during the stalemate stage were the primary participants in the war against Japan, playing the role of the main force.
From 1937 to 1940, the Chinese theater pinned down the main strength of the Japanese army divisions. Before the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Chinese theater was the sole theater for resisting Japanese fascism. At that time, 80% of Japan's total army strength was in China, reaching as high as 94% at its peak. Untill the end of the War of Resistance, the number of Japanese troops in China still far exceeded the total strength in the Pacific theater.
The International Community Highly Praises China’s Resistance
As the main Eastern theater against Japanese fascist aggression, China’s resistance received high attention and affirmation from the international community. On January 6, 1945, U.S. President Roosevelt stated in his State of the Union address: "We shall not forget how the Chinese people for seven long years stood up to the barbarous Japanese onslaught and tied down large numbers of enemy troops on the vast areas of the Asiatic mainland." He further pointed out, "If China had not been there, if China had been defeated, think of how many divisions of Japanese troops could have been transferred to other theaters of operation? They could have immediately seized Australia and India—they could have seized these places with no effort at all. They could even have pushed all the way to the Middle East." Furthermore, scholars including Mark Selden, a historian at Cornell University, and Edward Friedman, a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, have all given high praise to China’s resistance.
Marshal Vasily Chuikov, who served as the Soviet military attaché to China, specifically noted: "Even in our most arduous years of war, Japan did not attack the Soviet Union, but instead drowned China in blood. No one who respects objective facts even slightly can fail to consider this obvious and indisputable fact." Yuri Tavrovsky, a professor at the People's Friendship University of Russia, believes: "Since ancient times, fighting a war on two fronts has been a great taboo for military strategists... The Soviet Red Army did not fall into a two-front war during World War II, allowing it to concentrate superior forces for the defense of Moscow and Stalingrad, ultimately winning the victory in the European theater. For all of this, we must remember China's immense sacrifice and thank China for its outstanding contribution."
In 2005, during the grand commemorations held around the world for the 60th anniversary of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War, major British media outlets reported on the "immense achievements" of China’s resistance. The Guardian explicitly stated that if China had not pinned down the Japanese military in the Asian theater, Japan might well have attacked the Soviet rear or launched a massive invasion of the Pacific region—history would have been rewritten! Additionally, Antony Beevor, a visiting professor at the University of London, reminded his colleagues to reflect on World War II and to cast their evaluative gaze further afield, rather than merely looking "under their own feet" (mainland Europe).
The Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was the first to hoist the banner of the World Anti-Fascist War and was the Eastern theater with the longest duration of resistance against fascist aggression. China’s resistance effectively struck and pinned down Japanese fascism, providing strong support for Allied operations and making a massive contribution to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War.
(The author is a professor at the School of Marxism, Shanghai Jiao Tong University) Source: Chinese Social Sciences Net - China Social Sciences Today, July 7, 2025 Online Editor: Tong Xin