The Chinese people, who also suffered during World War II, made important contributions to the victory of the anti-fascist war, a Chinese State Council official said Tuesday in Tel Aviv at a seminar marking the 60th WWII anniversary.

Minister Zhao Qizheng of the State Council Information Office told Chinese and Israeli participants that Japan deployed most of its troops on the battleground in China during the war, in which more than half of the Japanese troops were wiped out in China.

The Chinese people, through resistance, depleted Japan's resources and limited its ability to launch attacks on other countries, thus playing a role that could not be neglected in the war, said the Chinese official.

He also lashed out at a handful of people in Japan for their attempts to shirk the country's responsibility for war under the pretext of cultural differences.

But the official stressed that the Chinese government will stick to its long-term policy of maintaining friendly ties with the Japanese people, saying it will be conducive to the development of both countries.

Chinese Ambassador to Israel Chen Yonglong hailed the friendship forged during the hard years of war between the Chinese and Jewish peoples.

While the "civilized world" in the West closed the door, China provided shelter for up to 20,000 Jewish people being persecuted by fascists, the ambassador said. He hoped that the Sino-Israeli friendship will be passed on from generation to generation.

At the seminar, some of the Israeli participants recalled their years in Shanghai, one of the Chinese cities to host Jewish refugees at the time. They said they feel thankful to the Chinese people whenever they think of their fellowmen taken to the Nazi concentration camps in Europe during the war.
 
(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2005)