Published: August 18, 2025
MONROVIA, Liberia – Chinese Ambassador Yin Chengwu on Thursday called for peace, unity, and cooperation among nations as the Chinese Embassy in Liberia marked the 80th anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
The commemoration, held at TM Mall in Monrovia, featured the screening of The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru, a documentary telling the true story of a September 1942 tragedy. A Japanese ship carrying more than 1,800 British prisoners of war was torpedoed off China’s Dongji Island. Survivors jumped into the sea under fire from Japanese troops, and over 100 Chinese fishermen risked their lives in small boats to rescue them.
Yin said the commemoration was not about continuing hatred but about honoring those who sacrificed their lives and drawing lessons for the future.
“Eighty years ago, people of different countries, social systems, and ideologies united to defeat the dark and evil forces of fascism,” he said. “The experience of war makes people value peace all the more.”
The ambassador highlighted the contributions of both China and Liberia to the Allied war effort. China, he said, was the main Eastern battlefield, resisting Japanese militarism under the Communist Party-led united front, while Liberia supplied rubber, provided key logistical support through its ports and airports, and saw some of its citizens volunteer for Allied service.
“From soldiers who fought bravely to unknown ordinary people, every action that chose justice and stuck to conscience deserves to be remembered and honored for all time,” Yin said.
He also linked the commemoration to current global tensions, warning that the world faces a choice between unity and division, dialogue and confrontation, and cooperation or zero-sum competition.
“Only by treasuring peace and upholding unity can humanity embrace a brighter future,” he said. “China will unswervingly defend the outcomes of the World Anti-Fascist War, pursue peaceful development, safeguard world peace, and promote a world of lasting peace and common prosperity.”
The Lisbon Maru documentary shed light on a little-known chapter of World War II, underscoring the courage of ordinary civilians in times of global conflict. Yin closed the program by urging nations to join hands to preserve peace through unity and to pass on the “common conscience and hope of mankind through action.”
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