More than a thousand people were on hand Sunday to mark the 70th anniversary of Taiwan's retrocession to the Republic of China (ROC).
The event took place at Chungshan Hall in Taipei, which is where a representative of the ROC government accepted the surrender of Japanese forces in Taiwan on Oct. 25, 1945.
Top government officials, including President Ma Ying-jeou, Vice President Wu Den-yih and Premier Mao Chi-kuo were on hand for the occasion.
Taiwan Governor Lin Jung-tzer, who presided over the event, welcomed three surviving members of the Taiwan Volunteers, who fought in the war of resistance against Japan.
President Ma Ying-jeou spoke at Sunday’s event, saying that of all the wars in the history of the Republic of China, the eight-year Second Sino-Japanese War had the largest scope, the most casualties, and the biggest impact.
The Republic of China (ROC) is the official name of Taiwan’s government, which was inaugurated in China in 1912. It was later moved to Taiwan in the late 1940s, at the end of a Civil War in China.
President Ma spoke about the huge number of casualties. He said that more than 3.22 million Chinese soldiers were killed or injured. He said that about 4% of Taiwan’s population at the time – about 100,000 people – were either killed or injured at the hands of the Japanese military.
Ma said that while the Chinese soldiers faced a much higher number of casualties than the Japanese army, the Chinese soldiers’ resilience paved the way for a victory.