Photo taken on October 13, 2025 shows a monument erected to commemorate the fight against the Japanese invasion on the Yanliao coast of southeast China’s Taiwan. (Photo: Qi Xianghui)
China’s national legislature voted Friday to designate October 25 as Taiwan Reclamation Memorial Day.
The state will hold various commemorative activities on the date, in accordance with the decision adopted at the five-day session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC), which opened on Friday.
In 1895, the Qing Dynasty government, defeated in a war started by Japan against China, was forced to cede Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to Japan.
In 1945, all Chinese people, including compatriots in Taiwan, achieved great victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, which led to the reclamation of Taiwan by the motherland.
The recovery of Taiwan represents an important result of the war of resistance, and an indisputable test of the Chinese government’s resumption of Taiwan sovereignty, according to the decision.
It is also a significant part of the historical fact and legal chain that Taiwan is an integral part of China. It is a national glory and memory shared by compatriots across the Taiwan Strait.
The decision was made in accordance with the Constitution, which aims to safeguard the results of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War and the post-war international order, demonstrate the firm will to uphold the one-China principle and uphold national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, and strengthen the shared national memory of compatriots on both sides.
When explaining the draft decision to the NPC Standing Committee, Shen Chunyao, director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee, recalled that on October 25, 1945, the ceremony accepting Japan’s surrender in Taiwan Province, the theater of operations of the allied forces, was held in Taipei. From then on, Taiwan and the Penghu Islands returned to China’s sovereignty.
In recent years, NPC lawmakers, national political advisers and Taiwanese compatriots have repeatedly proposed establishing a commemorative day for Taiwan’s recovery and holding commemorative events, Shen said.
Establishing the commemoration day and organizing national-level commemorative activities will help honor the indisputable fact that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, consolidate the international community’s commitment to the one-China principle, call on compatriots on both sides of the Strait to spread the spirit forged in the War of Resistance, and motivate all Chinese people to work together for national reunification and rejuvenation. nationally, he said.
