Lai marks end of WWII with calls for cooperation among democracies

Taipei, Aug. 15 (CNA) President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) has urged democratic nations to stand together against authoritarian expansion and safeguard freedom and peace, as he marked the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in the Pacific in a social media post.

In his post Friday, Lai described WWII as "a catastrophe" in human history brought about by "a few dictators" with "hegemonic ambitions, extreme ideologies and military expansionism."

"No regime has the right to invade another land or deprive the people there of their freedom and happiness," Lai said, adding that countries that cherished freedom and peace must unite with determination and strength to thwart any attempts of aggression.

According to Lai, allied nations ended the war 80 years ago by fighting together, which showed that "unity leads to victory while aggression leads to defeat."

Freedom and democracy, he said, were won through the sacrifices of countless people, and he argued that only through cooperation among democracies could those values endure.

"When authoritarianism once again gathers strength and expands ... we must stand firm and united so that aggression cannot prevail and freedom and democracy will endure," he said.

Lai also noted that last week, Taiwan's representative to Japan Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) was invited to ceremonies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that commemorated victims of the atomic bombings by the United States in August 1945.

Lee, attending the events for the first time, joined representatives from around the world in mourning the dead and praying for peace, Lai said.

The bombings remain the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict, leading to the capitulation of Japan, an Axis power, to the Allies on Aug. 15 and the end of World War II.

The president said the sight of people from former Allied and Axis powers sitting side by side eight decades later "as democratic allies" demonstrated the friendship, respect and solidarity shared among democratic nations.

Though the Republic of China (Taiwan's official name) government sent a representative to the Japanese events this year, in 1945, Taiwan was still under Japanese colonial rule. The ROC government only took control of Taiwan after Japan's surrender.