UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Japan, as a defeated country in World War II, must do deep soul-searching regarding its historical crimes, abide by the political commitments it made on the Taiwan question, immediately stop provocative actions that cross the line, and retract its erroneous remarks, a Chinese envoy said Thursday.

At the UN General Assembly high-level plenary meeting to commemorate the first International Day Against Colonialism in All Its Forms and Manifestations, China's permanent representative to the United Nations Fu Cong said the world has yet to emerge from the shadow of colonialism despite the end of colonial occupation and the collapse of colonial system.

He urged the international community to firmly oppose any words or actions that challenge or seek to subvert the post-war international order.

Fu noted that the International Day Against Colonialism in All Its Forms and Manifestations aims to urge the international community to remember the harm of colonialism, accelerate the ongoing decolonization process, and end colonialism in all its forms and manifestations.

"The history of the World Anti-Fascist War teaches us that peace needs to be striven for and safeguarded," Fu said.

Following the victory of World War II, the trials of war criminals at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg and the International Military Tribunal for the Far East ensured that the principal perpetrators of the war of aggression, whose hands were stained with the blood of people of many nations, received the punishment they deserved, Fu said.

"The justice and integrity of the trials are unshakable and beyond challenge," he said.

Fu noted that in history, Japan invaded China, the Korean Peninsula and Southeast Asia, and imposed horrendous colonial rule.

Japanese aggressors committed innumerable crimes and atrocities in Taiwan, killing over 650,000 Taiwan compatriots, forcibly recruiting around 200,000 young people to serve in the military, forcing more than 2,000 Taiwan women to become "comfort women," occupying 70 percent of Taiwan's land, and destructively exploiting natural resources, including coal and gold mines, Fu said.

"It was the darkest page in Taiwan's history," Fu emphasized, calling on the international community to resolutely defend the victorious outcomes of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, and resolutely defend the post-war international order.

"We must never allow any denial or distortion of the history of aggression, never allow the revival of militarism, and never allow the recurrence of historical tragedies," the Chinese envoy said.

"Any words or actions that challenge or seek to subvert the post-war international order could create instability in the world and bring immense suffering to humanity as a community with a shared future," Fu said. ■