Korean war shows how an underdog China can win in armed conflict against US: Chinese general
- Senior officer says war was miracle of the weak overcoming the strong
- The smoke of that conflict has cleared but the roots of what caused it remain, he says
In an opinion piece published on Thursday by the Global Times, a state-run nationalist tabloid, He, a former vice-president of the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Military Science, said that despite its appalling human toll, the Korean war was still a vital source of confidence for Beijing in the face of cold war-style confrontation.
He argued that China’s first and only war against the United States 70 years ago, officially known as “the war to resist US aggression and aid Korea”, was a “just war and a people’s war”, and the result of the US invasion of North Korea that “brought the war to China’s northeastern border and occupied the island of Taiwan”.
“History has proved that after China’s victory in the Korean war, the US no longer dared to try to mount a military invasion of China,” he said.
Last month, China reopened its only national memorial dedicated to the war and plans a series of events later this month to mark the 70th anniversary of China’s participation in the conflict.
The Korean war has a high-profile place in the official history of the People’s Republic and Beijing has used remembrances repeatedly to rally public support.
But in recent years, the commemorations were not generally played up until Beijing’s relations with Washington suffered major setbacks, according to observers.