Memorial for heroic rescue bears testimony to China-UK friendship

More than a dozen descendants of British prisoners of war joined descendants of Chinese fishermen at a ceremony on Tuesday in east China's Zhejiang Province to mark the friendship forged between Chinese and British people during the joint war against fascism.

A memorial was unveiled at the event in Zhoushan, a coastal city in Zhejiang, to remember the selfless heroism of local fishermen who rescued several hundred POWs from the brink of death more than 80 years ago.

In October 1942, the Lisbon Maru, a cargo vessel requisitioned by the Japanese army to transport more than 1,800 British POWs from Hong Kong to Japan, was torpedoed off the Zhoushan Islands by a U.S. submarine after failing to display mandated POW transport markings. As the vessel sank, fishermen of Dongji braved machine-gun fire to pluck drowning British POWs from the sea, rescuing 384 of them.

Last week, during a session in the UK's House of Commons, Member of Parliament Kirsteen Sullivan mentioned Tuesday's unveiling ceremony.

"My constituent (Gerry Borge) shared with me the story of his father's and uncle's service with the Royal Scots in the Far East during World War II," she said, adding that Borge would attend the event.

In response, the UK's Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell said she was pleased to hear about the memorial being unveiled. "That tragedy needs to be remembered," she said.