China Voices No Criticism of Japan at Ceremony Commemorating Marco Polo Bridge Incident

By Keiichiro Azuma / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

14:39 JST, July 8, 2025

BEIJING — China held a ceremony on Monday to mark the 88th anniversary of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, a prelude to the Second Sino-Japanese War.

No major criticism of Japan was made at the ceremony, which was held near the bridge in Beijing’s suburbs, at a museum memorializing resistance to “Japanese aggression.”

According to state-run news agency Xinhua, the Chinese Communist Party’s fifth-ranked official, Cai Qi, who is a member of the Central Committee Secretariat and is also on the Politburo Standing Committee, delivered a speech that stressed how the party fought bravely on the front lines of the resistance.

This was the first time for a member of the Politburo — the party’s supreme policy-making body — to attend the ceremony since 2022, which marked 85 years since the incident.

According to Xinhua, Cai called for unity within the party, urging the thorough implementation of President Xi Jinping’s guiding ideology. However, Cai did not make any notable criticisms of Japan in his speech, possibly in consideration of warming ties with Japan.

Beijing has labeled this year “the 80th anniversary of China’s victory in the War of Resistance against Japan” and is ramping up its publicity campaign.

A special exhibition on the history of the Second Sino-Japanese War and Japan’s war crimes started Monday at the museum. Xinhua reported that Xi visited a facility related to the country’s fight against Japan in Yangquan, Shanxi Province, on Monday and laid flowers in memory of those who died in battle.

A military parade is set to be held at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Sept. 3, which China celebrates as the anniversary of its victory over Japan.