A memoir written by Japanese journalist Satoko Norimatsu, entitled Notes from My Journal: From the Pacific to the East Sea 11, was published in Choson Sinbo on 6 October. It recounts her impressions of the commemorative events for the International Day of Peace held in Wuhan, Hubei Province, People’s Republic of China, from 20 to 22 September; her exchanges with representatives from countries around the world; and her meaningful encounters with members of the DPRK International Solidarity Group. The full text of the memoir follows.

An International Gathering to Face “Difficulties” Together

Satoko Norimatsu

From 20 to 22 September, I attended the commemorative events for the International Day of Peace in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, as a member of the Association for Inheriting and Developing the Murayama Statement, together with its Chairman, Takakage Fujita. The conference was co-hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament (CPAPD) and the Hubei Provincial People’s Government, with support from the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Founded in 1985, CPAPD is China’s largest non-governmental peace organisation. It maintains exchanges with organisations in more than 100 countries and holds consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. This was the eleventh International Day of Peace commemorative event. As I entered the vast venue on the beautiful shores of East Lake, I was thrilled to see row upon row of simultaneous interpretation booths for English, Chinese, Russian and Arabic.

The list of participants showed that 139 people had come from abroad, representing 60 countries across five continents. They included the Speaker of Mauritania’s National Assembly, the Deputy President of Malaysia’s Senate and a former Deputy Speaker of Russia’s State Duma, alongside parliamentarians, representatives of peace and international solidarity organisations, researchers and international students. The Chinese side numbered 111, including officials from the central government, Hubei Province and Wuhan; representatives of universities and businesses; and people involved with memorial institutions commemorating the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression from around the country. Looking around the venue, I felt there must have been well over 500 people altogether, including staff and international students.

This year’s theme was “Working Together to Meet Challenges and Build a Peaceful World.” The “difficulties” clearly refer to the wars of aggression and massacres continuing in Ukraine, Palestine, Iran and elsewhere. At the opening ceremony, Liu Haixing, Minister of the CPC Central Committee’s International Department, pointed out that the Global Peace Index had fallen for twelve consecutive years and that state-based conflicts had reached their highest level since the Second World War. When I asked a CPAPD staff member, “What, precisely, is the purpose of this conference?” the answer was, “The safeguarding of peace.” Most of the participating countries were from the Global South, while Western countries accounted for only about one-fifth. I understood the gathering to express the determination of non-Western countries to join forces and reclaim the peace repeatedly shattered by wars waged by Western powers seeking to monopolise resources and wealth.

In the keynote address on the first day, Peng Qinghua, President of CPAPD, called for opposition to hegemonism and the prevention of war as prerequisites for peace. The fruits of development, he said, should be shared rather than turned into a cause of conflict; no civilisation should be considered superior or inferior to another, and exchanges among civilisations should be encouraged. He also urged the creation of international frameworks for emerging fields such as AI, outer space and the deep sea, with the Global South participating on an equal footing.

Throughout the two-day conference, most speakers emphasised solidarity among Global South countries, peaceful development, multilateralism, an international order centred on the United Nations and fairer global governance. Strangely, there was almost no direct criticism naming the hegemonic power, the United States. It was like an “elephant in the room”—an unmistakable presence that everyone was conscious of, even without mentioning it. For that very reason, the conference conveyed all the more strongly the wish of non-Western countries not for confrontation with the West, but for peaceful coexistence through dialogue.

Japan, by contrast, faced pointed criticism by name. Liu Haixing declared, “We must never allow the revival of Japanese militarism, and must safeguard the fruits of victory in the Second World War.” Zhang Shen, a counsellor at the Department of Arms Control of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, raised two issues: public discussion in Japan of acquiring nuclear weapons, and the chemical weapons abandoned by the former Japanese army that still remain in various parts of China. At the close of the conference, participants visited a commemorative photo exhibition, “Memories of Peace,” organised for the International Day of Peace. Eight institutions from across China took part, including the Chongqing Stilwell Museum and the Kunming Flying Tigers Memorial Hall, sharing memories of China’s resistance against Japanese aggression and the joint struggle with the Allied countries.

For me, one of the most rewarding aspects was talking with participants from other countries between the formal sessions. I asked Beza, an Ethiopian university professor seated beside me, how she had travelled to China. She told me she had taken a direct flight from Addis Ababa to Chengdu. Ethiopian Airlines, she said, operates direct flights to four Chinese cities. Ethiopia is regarded as an important country in the Belt and Road Initiative, and Chinese companies are responsible for much of its infrastructure, including railways and roads. “It’s a wonderful thing,” she said. Educational and personal exchanges are also growing, along with international marriages and people settling in both countries.

After the conference, I met Marai from Papua New Guinea while visiting a traditional pottery workshop producing Mako ware, a craft that has been practised since the Ming dynasty. Marai spoke about the wisdom of Pacific nations, which seek a foreign policy of “friendship with all, enmity with none,” maintaining good relations with both China and the United States.

I had hoped to meet participants from Korea, but, unfortunately, there was no delegation. At the welcome banquet, however, I noticed a young man in the Russian delegation wearing badges bearing the images of President Kim Il Sung and General Secretary Kim Jong Il. Surprised, I went over to speak with him. He was Alexander Mostov, 28, a member of the DPRK International Solidarity Group (ISG). The anti-imperialist organisation traces its roots to the Soviet–Korean Friendship Association, founded in 1958, and has bases in Russia, China, Europe, Tajikistan, Armenia and North America.

When Mostov joined the organisation in 2016, he felt that the Russian government was not doing enough to confront US intervention in Ukraine. Wanting to take action, he was impressed by Korea’s courageous struggle against US imperialism and decided to engage in solidarity work. He went on to establish Red Star TV, an online television channel that disseminates information about Korea. Mostov concluded: “I believe that the anti-imperialist alliance of Korea, China and Russia is humanity’s last hope.”

After Wuhan, the Japanese delegation travelled to Chengdu, Sichuan Province, for a study visit. There they visited Qingyuan Community, a neighbourhood community supporting residents’ daily lives; APLUX, a company developing AI and robotics technologies at an innovation centre bringing together high-tech firms and start-ups; and the panda breeding and research base, among other places, before completing the programme.

On the night before our departure on the 24th, I turned on the television at our hotel in Chengdu. The news was full of President Xi Jinping and his wife’s visit to the United States. The leader of a China that had overcome “a century of humiliation” and had become a great power was receiving the highest level of hospitality from the US President. To me, the scene symbolised the history of decolonisation traversed by many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, long oppressed by Western imperialism. I felt truly proud. At the same time, I sincerely hoped that the “peaceful coexistence and development” emphasised at this international conference would become a reality.

Profile

Journalist. Born in Musashino, Tokyo. During her second and third years of high school, she studied at an international school in Victoria, Canada, where she first learned about the history of Japan’s wars of aggression. She moved to Canada in 1997, joined the founding of the Vancouver Article 9 Society in 2005, and established the Peace Philosophy Centre (peacephilosophy.com) in 2006. She is an editor of the English-language journal The Asia-Pacific Journal. Mother of two children and three cats. Her books include Okinawa Is Not Isolated (Kin’yobi, 2018). She first visited the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in 2019. She hopes to stand alongside the worldwide movement for decolonisation.

(This series of essays examines issues concerning Japan and the Korean Peninsula, as well as international affairs, from anti-imperialist and decolonial perspectives.)