The 81st anniversary of the "September 18 Incident," which directly preceded Japan's invasion of northeast China, is remembered amid tension caused by the Japanese Government's so-called "purchase" of the Diaoyu Islands.

On September 18, 1931, Japanese troops blew up a section of the railway under its control near Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning Province, then accused Chinese troops of sabotage as a pretext for war. They bombarded the barracks of Chinese troops near Shenyang the same evening, thus starting a large-scale armed invasion of northeast China.

The incident was also followed by Japan's full-scale invasion of China and the rest of Asia, and the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45).

The brutal invasion plunged China into an unprecedented disaster, in which half of its territory was enveloped in the fire of war and more than 35 million soldiers and civilians were killed.

However, the recent "purchase" of the Diaoyu Islands has stirred anger across China and triggered protests in several cities. The Japanese Government should take note of mainstream Chinese public opinion, as voiced in those protests, and think twice about its illegal activities.

(CNTV.cn, Xinhua News Agency September 18, 2012)