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President Ma meets descendants of former members of the Soviet Volunteer Group
2015-08-13

President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of August 13 with Evgeny Opasov and Andrey Matveev, descendants of former pilots of the Soviet Volunteer Group who participated in air battles for the ROC in the War of Resistance Against Japan. The president also awarded medals commemorating victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan to them in commemoration of the contributions of Soviet volunteer pilots who supported the ROC in the War of Resistance.

In remarks, President Ma stated that the ROC during the War of Resistance was saddled with outdated equipment and lacked the military wherewithal to fight Japan. That the ROC was able to carry on the fight for eight years showed the determination of the military and the people to defend every last inch and fight to the death, and ultimately enabled the ROC to emerge victorious. Subsequently, the Japanese military on September 9, 1945 surrendered the Chinese war theatre to the ROC military, followed by the surrender of Taiwan province on October 25, ending 50 years of Japanese colonial rule over Taiwan and returning Taiwan to the Republic of China. The ROC, however, paid a painful price during the War of Resistance. Almost 3.22 million troops, including 268 commanding officers, lost their lives. Meanwhile, over 20 million civilians died during the war, and the property losses were incalculable, the president said.

President Ma remarked that at that time Japan was a military powerhouse and sported a modern and well-equipped army. The ROC military lagged considerably in this respect, he said. However, many academics nowadays affirm China's outstanding performance in the War of Resistance. For instance, the late American historian Lloyd E. Eastman once said that the Nationalist Government's war effort, fighting for eight long years against enemy forces that were vastly superior in terms of organization, training, and equipment was "a miracle of determination and self-reliance." Meanwhile, in the Prologue to his 2014 book titled Forgotten Ally: China's World War II, 1937-1945, Professor Rana Mitter of Oxford University says that "China's war is also a story of heroic resistance against massive odds, of a regime and a people who managed, despite everything, to pull off victory against the enemy in a 'war of resistance to the end'." That heroic resistance allowed other Allied forces to fight on two fronts at once, in Asia and Europe, and ultimately win World War II. That victory "was posited in significant part on making sure that China stayed in the war." These commentaries from British and American historians, as well as other recently uncovered historical documents about the War of Resistance, will help the outside world understand this period of history, he said.

President Ma feels that the ROC's victory in the War of Resistance was not only due to the resolute determination and willingness by soldiers to fight to the death, but also to the crucial assistance provided to the ROC by its allies. One such example is the Flying Tigers squadron, which the public is quite familiar with. This group of American pilots, led by General Claire Lee Chennault, supported the ROC. Pilots from the two nations shot down nearly 300 Japanese aircraft, the foundation for victory in the War of Resistance, he said.

The president also mentioned the deeds of the Soviet Union in aiding the ROC. After the governments of the ROC and the Soviet Union signed the Treaty of Non-Aggression, the Soviet Union between 1937 and 1941 provided about 1,200 planes to the ROC and dispatched a total of 3,665 crew and ground staff to support the ROC Air Force. These individuals volunteered to join the war in China and participated in 10 major battles, shooting down 459 Japanese warplanes and destroying over 100 Japanese vessels. In the course of these battles, however, over 200 Soviet pilots unfortunately died.

President Ma furthermore explained that the Soviet Volunteer Group not only participated in the war effort, but also helped the ROC in establishing an aviation goods supply station, an aircraft repair facility, as well as a flight school and training base, thus helping the ROC Air Force in consolidating its might and resisting the Japanese attack. The president emphasized that following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, which was two years prior to the outbreak of World War II, the ROC resisted Japanese aggression on its own, with hardly any foreign assistance except for the Soviet Volunteer Group. Therefore, the move by the Soviet Volunteer Group to support the ROC was extremely timely and valuable. The end of World War II marked the beginning of the Cold War, which ushered in changes to bilateral relations. Thus, that period in history in which the two sides joined hands in waging war was forgotten, which is in contrast to the well-known deeds of America's Flying Tigers, he said. The actions taken by the Soviet Volunteer Group to help the ROC are virtually unknown here, he stated.

The president believes that support provided by the Soviet Volunteer Group early in the War of Resistance not only provided a shot in the arm in the ROC's resistance against Japanese aggression, but also shattered the dreams of Japan to "destroy China in three months." Although most of the volunteer pilots who came to China used pseudonyms, making it difficult for the government to find them, the president said that he hopes to take advantage of commemorating the 70th anniversary of the ROC's victory in the War of Resistance to find even more pilots who came to China's aid during those years to enable the public to understand the contributions of the Soviet pilots, and give them their due respect.

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