Ugandan prime minister meets with Chinese foreign minister

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday met with Ugandan Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, who attended the opening ceremony of the Fourth China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province.

Ugandan Foreign Minister Odongo Jeje Abubakhar and others were present.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said that Uganda is an important country in Africa and a representative of emerging economies. President Xi Jinping and President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni have established mutual trust and friendship, providing impetus and assurance for the development of China-Uganda relations, said Wang.

Last autumn, the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was successfully held, and the outcomes of the Summit have already been effectively implemented in Uganda, said Wang, noting that in the first quarter of this year, Uganda's exports to China increased by nearly 90 percent year on year.

China is full of confidence in the prospect of China-Uganda relations and stands ready to deepen practical cooperation in various fields and work together to promote the sound, steady, and sustainable development of bilateral relations, said Wang Yi.

Wang Yi stated that China and Uganda maintain strategic communication and coordination on international and multilateral affairs and jointly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Africa and the vast number of developing countries. China is willing to work with Uganda and other African brothers and sisters to support and practice multilateralism, oppose unilateral bullying, and safeguard the basic norms governing international relations, said Wang.

Nabbanja said that Uganda and China respect and understand each other and keep close communication and contact. She expressed appreciation to China for its long-term and valuable support in Uganda's infrastructure construction and economic and social development. Uganda and China have achieved remarkable results in cooperation within the frameworks of the Belt and Road Initiative and the FOCAC, said Nabbanja.

The 10 partnership actions put forward by President Xi Jinping are highly consistent with Uganda's development goals, and Uganda looks forward to further deepening cooperation in key areas such as airport expansion, digital transformation, and agricultural modernization, said Nabbanja.

Ugandan prime minister meets with Chinese foreign minister

Japan should better inform its younger generations about its history of aggression during World War II (WWII) to raise anti-war awareness in society, according to descendants of Japanese invaders in China during WWII.

On July 7, 1937, Japanese troops attacked Chinese forces at the Lugou Bridge on the outskirts of Beijing, marking the beginning of Japan's full-scale invasion of China and China's nationwide resistance against the Japanese invaders, initiating a whole-of-nation war effort that opened the main Eastern battlefield in the global war against fascism.

In a recent interview with China Media Group, Kuroi Akio, one of the five descendants who visited China last year for an apology tour, warned about the lack of information in today's education system regarding Japan's wartime invasion of China and other Asian countries.

"Three years ago, I asked a group of children between the ages of six and 10 if Japan had ever been in a war and where it was fought. About 70 children raised their hands, so I asked them one by one. Every child answered 'America,' and not one mentioned any other country. The children knew about the war with the United States and the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, they didn't know about Japan's invasions of China, the Korean Peninsula, China's Taiwan region, Indonesia, and the Philippines. This is the reality, and that's why the education in Japan is so hopeless," said Kuroi, who knelt down before the Chinese people during his apology tour in northeast China's Jilin Province last September.

Kurokawa Yasuko, another descendant, also called for better education in Japan about its wartime history, saying it was essential for a properly informed public opinion.

"I think that [the lack of war history education] is wrong. It's important to teach students the history of Japan's invasion to others in the modern world, otherwise the public opinion of this country will be steered in the wrong direction," she said.

"We hope to create a strong anti-war public opinion in Japan. My activities are called 'micro-power' in Japan, a tiny power indeed, but by gathering voices of support and agreement, such drops of water will become a stream, a river, and eventually an ocean. Without a peaceful future, mankind can't survive. Humanity's future can only be realized through the belief in peace," Kuroi said.

Japan should better inform younger generations about its wartime atrocities: WWII descendants