Chinese President Jiang Zemin Wednesday urged all members of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Chinese army and people to learn and uphold patriotism and revolutionary heroism of the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV).

"Over the past 50 years, we have always remembered the martyrs who made brave sacrifice in the war for the motherland, peace and freedom," said Jiang, "their heroic names will be engraved on the chronicle of the People's Republic and the chronicle of peace, development and progress of mankind for ever."

The remarks were made by Chinese president at a grand gathering held Wednesday in the Great Hall of People to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the detaching of the CPV to Korea to fight against the US aggressors together with the People's Army of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

In his speech, Jiang proposed a silent tribute to martyrs who sacrificed themselves in the war.

"The victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea is a great victory of the world's peace-loving people, a heroic feat to defend justice and fight against hegemony, a splendid epic of patriotism and revolutionary heroism, and a grand monument erected by the Chinese people in maintaining world peace and human progress," Jiang said.

The president, who is also general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) and chairman of the Central Military Committee (CMC), recalled that 50 years ago, the CPV crossed the Yalu River, on the Sino-DPRK border, to fight battles alongside the DPRK People's Army for two years and nine months to win a great victory.

"Over the past 50 years, we have always remembered the immortal historic merits by the older generation proletarian revolutionaries and the China People's Volunteers," the Chinese president said.

The development of the world proves that the decision made by the CPC Central Committee to send the CPV is of great significance to safeguarding world peace, the independence and freedom of the Chinese people, the people of the DPRK and all the suppressed and enslaved, and to reducing the danger of the outbreak of a new world war, Jiang said.

The president remembered late Chinese leaders including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun.

He said, "Over the past 50 years, we have always remembered the officers and men of the CPV who watered the flower of peace with their blood and safeguarded human justice with their life as well as all those who contributed to the victory of the war."

On behalf of the CPC Central Committee, the State Council and the CMC, Jiang extended lofty respect to people of different ethnic groups in China and civilians who joined in logistic work in the war, non-communist parties and social groups who spared no efforts to support the CPV, and cordial comfort to the CPV martyrs and relatives of former CPV members.

In his address, Jiang also spoke highly of Korean people who fought the enemy under the leadership of Kim Il-song and the Workers' Party of Korea.

He said that the two peoples and the two armies of China and DPRK have forged a great friendship.

Meanwhile, Jiang also extended cordial thanks to the government and people of the former Soviet Union who supported the CPV in the war as well as all peace-loving people and country that provided support for the CPV.

The president stressed that the Chinese Nation is a peace-loving and freedom-loving one and the war that occurred 50 years ago was completely forced upon the Chinese people by imperialist aggressors.

The Chinese people, who founded the New China on October 1, 1949 after a long period of hard struggles, are the most active advocate of peace, but their sincere desire to heal the wounds of wars and restore the economy were harshly challenged, Jiang said.

After the outbreak of the civil war in Korea, the US government launched an all-round war in Korea, while detaching its fleets to invade the Taiwan Straits, Jiang added.

In defiance of the warnings from the Chinese government, the US invaders crossed the Demarcation Line to threaten the safety of China by directly reaching the border rivers of Yalu and Tumen with US warplanes bombing Chinese cities and villages, he noted.

The actions of the US threatened the independence and freedom of the DPRK, the security of the new-born People's Republic of China (PRC), and peace in the Far East and the world, Jiang said.

The CPC Central Committee and Mao Zedong made the decision to detach the CPV to Korea at the invitation of the Party and the government of the DPRK, he recalled.

The War to Resist US aggression and Aid Korea is the first international, regional war after World War II, which witnessed a great disparity in the military powers of the two sides, according to Jiang.

The US troops totaling almost two million, used all weapons apart from A-bomb in the war, while the CPV was armed with outdated weapons and equipment, he noted.

Jiang said that the CPV officers and men displayed patriotism, revolutionary heroism and optimism, loyalty to revolution, and internationalism, which formed the soul of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea and left an eternal wealth to the Chinese people.

The Chinese people have granted a lofty title of "The Most Beloved" to CPV officers and men, he said.

China's victory in the war checked the strategic arrangement by the imperialists in their attempts to expand their influence sphere and safeguarded peace in the Far East and the world, the president noted.

Jiang wished to view and summarize the war by bringing into consideration history and reality, so as to better promote the lofty cause of peace and development of mankind. "Peace and development are irresistible historic trends," he stressed.

China has maintained that internal affairs of all countries should be handled themselves; international issues be settled by all countries through talks; and contradictions and disputes between different nations be resolved through talks on an equal footing, Jiang said.

No country should play hegemonism and power politics, force their own value and social system upon others, and has the rights to interfere in others' internal affairs by using force, infringing upon other countries' sovereignty, and damaging other country's unification and their national unity, he stressed.

(Xinhua 10/25/2000)