Martin Sieff (Chinadaily.com.cn)
Martin Sieff is a Senior Fellow of the American University in Moscow and former Managing Editor, International Affairs at United Press International. He is the author of Cycles of Change: The Three Great Cycles of American History and the Coming Crises That Will Lead to the Fourth (2015) available from www.martinsieff.com
The refusal of Western leaders, and those of Germany and Japan, to attend the 70th anniversary Victory Parade in Moscow on May 9 is a willful distortion of modern history. It makes a mockery of the endless self-congratulatory Western celebrations of World War II that have been held over the past year.
President Xi Jinping has exhibited a fine sense of history by deciding to attend the Victory Parade. Between them, China and the Soviet Union lost at least 47 million people in World War II, more than 100 times the total death tolls of either the United States or the British Empire and the Commonwealth.
It is particularly shameful that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has refused to attend the Moscow ceremonies. By contrast, although German Chancellor Angela Merkel will not attend the parade, she will visit Moscow for the 70th anniversary and other ceremonies. Her example should have been followed by US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron. It is outrageous that they have refused to do so.
It is both admirable and revealing that Xi is ignoring this general boycott of Russia to attend this solemn occasion. At least 20 million Chinese people died in the invasion and occupation of China by the Imperial Japanese Army from 1937 to 1945.
The Russian people and other Soviet nationalities suffered greater losses — about 27 million Soviet citizens died in the war.
China played a disproportionately large role in the Pacific War. It pinned down 2 million Japanese troops. In contrast, US combat forces never had to engage Japanese forces more than 400,000 strong in the Philippines starting from October 1944. But these facts are never taught in US schools and colleges.
The Soviet role, and that of the Russian people, in the destruction of Nazi Germany dwarfed the efforts of the United States and Britain combined. Nine out of every 10 Nazi soldiers killed in the war fell to the Red Army. When D-Day was launched, 11 Nazi divisions were fighting in the West, while more than 220 Nazi divisions were fighting the Red Army on the eastern front.
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