China's V-Day commemoration: Light to guide a 'community with a shared future for humanity'

Editor's note: Stephen Brawer is the chairman of the Belt and Road Institute in Sweden and a distinguished research fellow of the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies in China. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The profound suffering embodied in the history of World War II lives forever in the memory banks of the universe. That history will never be erased and forgotten despite all futile attempts to do so.

On September 3, the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War brought together nations and peoples ready to acknowledge and honor those fallen in the great struggle for victory over fascist forces.

It should have been an event celebrated in every capital city around the world. Yet, there are still those in Europe, Japan, and the U.S. who wish to bury their heads in the sands of time, pretending what happened did not actually happen. But those who run from the truth ultimately do so at their own expense.

The world, despite its present turbulence and dangers, is moving towards a new chapter of human history. The recent meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has already marked a new direction for the great majority of humanity.

Russia, China and India represent the core of this transformation process, together with the friends of the SCO. The world is moving into a new alignment, where the framework for global cooperation and development, represented by the Belt and Road Initiative, is growing rapidly.

In addition, Chinese President Xi Jinping has added a new initiative, the Global Governance Initiative, to the three existing ones – the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative. These constitute the basis for "a community with a shared future for humanity."

As a visitor to the city of Chongqing in southwest China in May, I had the privilege to visit the museum commemorating the courage and resolve of the Chinese to resist the Japanese invaders and achieve victory in their war of resistance. I stood among the statues of the historic leaders and heroes who led the resistance. I also stood before the national monument in the center of Chongqing, a permanent commemoration of the tremendous sacrifice made by the people.

These timeless reminders of true history will not fade away. They invigorate the national will to continue on the road to rejuvenation, which will never again allow the humiliation and suffering of the people. 

Wednesday's military parade marked the strength of the Chinese nation, not for conquest or aggression, but to defend and if necessary, to decisively counter any new attempt to impose a unilateral world system by force.

The opportunities for the West to participate in the rising multilateral world system are virtually unlimited. Will the U.S., some of the European countries, and importantly, the EU, choose to abandon the old system of arrogance, superiority and dominance over the great majority of the developing nations? That remains an unanswered question.

Resolving issues through conflict and more military buildup is a dead-end in world history.  Geopolitics or balance-of-power politics has never provided any solutions for international issues. Rather, it has always been based on the law of the jungle, and winner take all – a zero-sum system. The West desperately needs new leadership, one that can appreciate the profound role of history and culture in building international trust and respect among all sovereign nations.

This is also the 80th year of the founding of the UN and the UN Charter is an excellent starting point for re-establishing the just principles of international law. However, it will eventually require deeper ideas and understanding of how to unite humanity under the great banner of "natural law."

Xi's Global Governance Initiative can be the starting point for the necessary dialogue between cultures to bring this about. The commemorations should be regarded as the light guiding "a community with a shared future for humanity."

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com. Follow @thouse_opinions on X, formerly Twitter, to discover the latest commentaries in the CGTN Opinion Section.)