Japanese militarists deliberately created the "September 18 Incident" at Liutiaohu near Shenyang City, and subsequently invaded and occupied northeast China.

The "September 18 Incident" marks the beginning of China's 14-yearlong bloody war against Japanese aggression.

"If we take history as a mirror, we know how time has changed," said the spokesman. "The blood-stained history that happened 70 years ago tells us that backwardness leads to being beaten. We shall always keep history in mind and never allow such tragedy to happen again."

In the meantime, the spokesman said, the history of the doom of Japanese militarism proved that any attempt to enslave people of another country through aggression would end up in shameful failure.

The Chinese Government and people insist on developing friendship with the Japanese people from generation to generation on the basis of "learning from history and looking into the future, " said the spokesman.

At the 70th anniversary of the "September 18 Incident," China hopes that Japan can truly and correctly recognize and treat that period of history, learn from it a deep lesson and follow the road of peace and development with concrete actions, the spokesman stressed.

"Only then can Japan be truly trusted by the international community," said the spokesman.

(Xinhua News Agency09/18/2001)