China’s purported leader-in-waiting, Xi Jinping has referred to the Korean War as “great and just war for safeguarding peace and resisting aggression.”
Vice President Xi was speaking at an event commemorating the 60th anniversary of the entry of the Chinese People’s Volunteers, as the People’s Liberation Army force in Korea was known, into the Korean War in Beijing yesterday.
Calling the war a “great victory gained by the united combat forces of China’s and the DPRK’s civilians and soldiers, and a great victory in the pursuit of world peace and human progress,” Xi asserted that the war was a victory for the weak over the strong that would never be forgotten by the Chinese people.
China actually entered North Korea on October 19th, but did not take part in major combat until the 25th, leading to a 1951 decision to designate the 25th for commemoration of the war.
A Chinese military delegation led by Vice Chairman of China’s Central Military Commission Guo Boxiong met with Kim Jong Il and probable successor Kim Jong Eun and attended a commemorative rally at Pyongyang Gymnasium on the same day.
