Global infrastructure investment: Emerging markets are winning; Singapore #1, Malaysia Asia #2

Emerging markets are winning the race to attract global infrastructure investment

- Singapore, Qatar & UAE top the ARCADIS Global Infrastructure Investment Index ranking

- UK, USA are moving up the index, but need to take urgent action to attract greater funding to replace their aging infrastructure

- Emerging markets including Philippines and Indonesia are rising up the index

Singapore is the most attractive market in the world for infrastructure investment, according to ARCADIS, the leading global natural and built asset design and consultancy firm.  Qatar and UAE completed the top three with their strong business environments, healthy pipelines of development work and growing economies, making them attractive to investors, including pension funds and banks.

The findings come from the second ARCADIS Global Infrastructure Investment Index which ranks 41 countries by their attractiveness to investors in infrastructure.  In order to gauge their appeal the study looked at various issues including the ease of doing business in each market, tax rates, GDP per capita, government policy, the quality of the existing infrastructure and the availability of debt finance. Combining all of these factors provided a strong overview of the risk profile for each market and how attractive each one is likely to be to potential investors.

Rob Mooren, Global Director of Infrastructure at ARCADIS said: “Good infrastructure is important for the long term economic development of a country.  Many governments are struggling to finance infrastructure investments.  As traditional debt markets are now harder to access, governments need to find alternative finance and agree to progressing projects.  By encouraging private finance into infrastructure, governments can remain globally competitive and meet their social and economic objectives.”

The GIII 2014 ranks the following as the top ten most attractive countries for infrastructure investment in 2014.  The difference from their 2012 ranking is in brackets:

2014	Country	Difference 2012
1.	Singapore	(=)
2.	Qatar	(=)
3.	UAE	(+1)
4.	Canada	(-1)
5.	Sweden	(=)
6.	Norway	(=)
7.	Malaysia	(=)
8.	USA	(+3)
9.	Australia	(-1)
10.	UK	(+3)

Singapore attractive, but better investment opportunities may lie elsewhere

Singapore’s integrated strategic plan linking infrastructure planning with business and social requirements helped it to retain its top position in the index.  However, the government self-finances most major projects so investment opportunities are limited.  Therefore other countries with major investment plans such as Qatar and the UAE, and emerging Asian markets such as Malaysia and the Philippines are considered more promising for investors.


USA and UK enter top ten, but must deliver against pipeline promise

The USA and the UK entered the top 10 for the first time through improvements in their economies as well as the growing need for investment in infrastructure.  However, both countries must work hard to attract private investment funds, as they compete against countries that provide more clarity on government infrastructure policy and are able to act on their promises to delivery major projects.


Continental European countries struggling to attract finance

Continental European countries present a mixed picture in their attractiveness to investors. At the top of the Continental European table, low risk markets like Sweden and Norway remain stable at fifth and sixth. Both have highly efficient business environments with transparency in regulation and efficient legal systems. Continental European countries such as Holland, France and Italy are either lacking public finance needed to upgrade their ageing infrastructure or have a lack of commitment from their governments to deliver proposed projects.  They have therefore slipped down the rankings.


Latin America countries vary in attractiveness

Chile is the highest placed Latin America country at 13th position, but its potential is limited by its size. In 2013 its construction market was estimated to be worth US$41.8billion but this is highly concentrated in mining.  Brazil is placed nearer the bottom of the ranking in 32nd place, indicating that some of the difficulties experienced with delayed programs have the potential to be risky for investors.


Rob Mooren continued: “A key difference that we have seen in the Asian and Middle Eastern markets is that those countries that have a clear integrated strategy tying infrastructure development plans to business and economic objectives have higher rankings.  This gives long term clarity to investors and is something that developed markets would do well to copy if they are to succeed in attracting more private finance into infrastructure.”


The report also explored the factors that governments, infrastructure owners and operators need to consider in order to attract private finance.  It suggested the structuring of infrastructure projects is key to this. For example, in project finance, mature markets like Canada, Australia, the US and the UK have sponsors that understand the pricing of assets, are aware of the rates of return expected and appreciate the key risks involved, making it easier to attract infrastructure investment. These markets have experienced the early challenges of introducing PPP and PFI and have learned what to expect from both an investor and political perspective


Rob Mooren concluded: “Markets that have created the right political environment committed to infrastructure development, can demonstrate the economic conditions required to sustain long term growth.  They have attractively structured infrastructure schemes which will stay ahead of the competition when it comes to attracting the pool of international investors who are increasingly considering this asset class.”
.

The full report can be downloaded here	View infographic here:

- Andy Rowlands, Head of Corporate Communications at ARCADIS  


M'sia second in Asia for infrastructure investment

Malaysia has been ranked second in the Asian region in terms of being an attractive market for investment in infrastructure, according to Arcadis.

The leading global natural and built asset design and consultancy firm said Malaysia scores highly across the investment criteria, placing it ahead of other large regional economies like Japan, China and South Korea.

Globally, Malaysia is placed at the 7th position, ahead of the US, Australia and United Kingdom.

The findings come from the second Global Infrastructure Investment Index, where it looked at various factors including the ease of doing business in each market, tax rates, GDP per-capita, government policy, quality of existing infrastructure and the availability of debt finance.

Arcadis Head of Infrastructure for Asia Richard Warburton said that infrastructure is the backbone of a country and a catalyst for its long-term economic development.

With Malaysia's average annual population growth rate of 1.4%, he said, investment in new infrastructure will be imperative.

"Combined with Malaysia's goal of a high-income status by 2020, plans are already underway for specific cities and urban clusters under Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley to be developed into vibrant, productive and liveable cities that are comparable to other major cities in the world.

The top 10 most attractive countries in Asia Pacific for infrastructure investment this year are Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Japan, China, Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, India and Philippine.

Warburton said countries that have created the right political environment for sustained long-term economic growth and have attractively structured infrastructure schemes will stay ahead of the competition to attract international inventions.

Sources: TheSundaily/BERNAMA/PropertyGuru

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World largest IPO: Alibaba shows optimism for China initiates new era and changes in Internet

Video: Alibaba's long road to Wall Street

Alibaba IPO shows optimism for China 

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba made its debut successfully on the New York Stock Exchange Friday, becoming the world's second-largest Internet company after Google. The complicated structure of Alibaba and the hype by mainstream media outlets in the US about its operation risks have failed to hold back global investors from chasing after its stocks. Its shares surged 38 percent on the first day of trading.

The growth of Alibaba is an unusual experience integrating China's opportunity and national conditions with Western capital and the world's confidence in the Chinese market. It has wielded a super influence upon the Chinese market and won the utmost confidence from the market. The impressive IPO, the biggest ever in US stock market history, can be viewed as a union connecting Chinese society and the rest of the world.

The West also thinks highly of what China regards as quite promising. This is what the New York Stock Exchange told us on Friday.

The complexity of China can hardly be thoroughly understood by ordinary Western investors. Alibaba was preparing its IPO amid economic transformation in China. When the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange rang, people bet not only on bright prospects for the company, but also on the stability of China's gradual market-oriented reform. The IPO demonstrates that the predictions of the West toward China are not as pessimistic as some media have reported.

There are two reasons why Chinese people have confidence in Alibaba. On the one hand, Alibaba is deeply rooted and also rises from the market; and on the other, the public has recognized that e-commerce represents the future. They are in increasing favor of marketized private enterprises and the high degree of market economization is affecting social confidence and resource allocation.

Now it seems that the rest of the world sometimes follows in the footsteps of the Chinese. China's huge potential, developed with its own Chinese characteristics, is now making its mark, which may lead Westerners to redefine their attitudes in accordance with the wishes of Chinese people. Both Chinese and Westerners need to adapt to and accept the reality Alibaba displays and comprehend its predictions about the future.

Why Alibaba decided to list in the US, though a shallow and improper question, involves a healthy and active aspiration that is not contradictory with the general global trend. Alibaba represents an era of the development of China's private Internet firms.

More support is needed for a new era. Chinese investors should not only play a major role in such feasts as Alibaba's IPO but also possess the ability to share the prospects. Will Alibaba surpass Google and become the largest Internet company in the world one day? Perhaps. China now boasts more than 600 million Net users and Alibaba displays a more genial access for new users throughout the world.- Global Times

Alibaba IPO initiates new era in which China changes Internet

Chinese Internet-based e-commerce giant Alibaba launched its initial public offerings (IPO) in New York Stock Exchange on Friday. After pricing its stock at $68, Alibaba surged high on the opening day with its price soaring to $92.70, which gave the company a valuation of about $228.5 billion.

In terms of market value, Alibaba has become the fourth biggest high-tech company after Apple, Google and Microsoft, and the second biggest Internet-based company in the world.

This IPO, now the biggest ever, has become a landmark in the global history of Internet development. Showing up on the international stage as a world class corporation, Alibaba reveals new business models and ideas of Chinese style.

Alibaba's IPO signals the start of a Chinese era in the global Internet. From 2005 to 2014, the population of Net users has increased dramatically and reached 3 billion worldwide.

Chinese Internet-based companies, starting from scratch, have grown to be leaders in the Internet community, engaging in a close competition with the US.

It is the trend of the age that keeps changing the world landscape, and customers are the basic forces to transform the situations of competition. The US remains dominant in most aspects. But after this experience, China will get the baton and take the lead.

So far, the average rate of Internet use in developed countries has surpassed 80 percent. They used their language advantages, high level of development and values to preside over the process in which the world Internet population has hit 3 billion.

However, in the next process to incorporate the other 3 billion people into the Internet community, developing countries will become the focus. China's new Net users in the countryside can serve as the best example.

In this process, these Silicon Valley-based CEOs and product managers will find it difficult to master their user experience and habits.

Instead, China's local enterprises such as Tencent and Alibaba will have more opportunities to acquire leadership in the new round of competition. It is only a matter of time for the development of the Chinese Internet to surpass that of its US counterpart.

Alibaba's IPO has unveiled the competition between China and the US in cyberspace. Although the US still gains an upper hand in the contest, China is catching up with it. And as long as China employs appropriate strategies, it will go beyond the US in many terms. In the future, China and the US will coexist in a mutually competitive and cooperative scenario.

Alibaba's success in IPO signals that Chinese Internet-based enterprises are getting more involved in globalization. The Internet has changed China, and it is time for China to change the Internet.

By Fang Xingdong Source:Global Times Published: 2014-9-22

The author is director of the Center for Internet and Society, Zhejiang University of Media and Communications. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

Alibaba Claims Title For Largest Global IPO Ever With Extra Share Sales

Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma celebrates his company's IPO at the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. (Photo: Mark Lennihan/AP)

 

http://onforb.es/1C5MgFY

 

By Liyan Chen, Ryan Mac and Brian Solomon, Forbes

After claiming the record for the largest US-listed initial public offering, Alibaba Group can now say its record-breaking IPO was the biggest in the world.

On Monday, the company announced that underwriters had exercised an option to purchase additional shares at the $68 IPO price, boosting the total amount raised by Chinese e-commerce giant and its selling shareholders from $21.8 billion to $25 billion. Bankers bought an additional 48 million American depositary shares, taking the total amount of shares sold in the offering to 368 million, or about 14.9% of the company.

In raising $25 billion, Alibaba’s IPO surpassed the 2010 offering from the Agricultural Bank of China, which raised $22.1 billion in it debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Alibaba was able to sell more shares due to its over-allotment, or “greenshoe,” option, which allows underwriters to placate investor demand for the stock by obtaining more shares from the company at the IPO price.

Existing shareholders Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma, Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai and Yahoo YHOO -5.57% provided the extra shares sold in the over-allotment. Ma sold an additional 2.7 million shares, selling a total of about 15.5 million shares in the IPO, while Tsai sold 5.2 million shares, after offloading an additional 900,000 shares in the greenshoe.

By selling in the over-allotment, Yahoo became the largest seller in Alibaba’s IPO, surpassing the 123 million shares offered directly from the Hangzhou-based company. Yahoo sold an additional 18.26 million shares, offloading a total of 140.3 million shares in the IPO for more than $9.5 billion in pre-tax cash.

Alibaba began trading on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange, with shares opening up at more than 35% above the $68 IPO price. On Monday, shares have fallen below the $90 mark, down more than 4% in intraday trading.

Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank , Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan , Morgan Stanley and Citigroup acted as joint book runners for the offering.

http://onforb.es/1C5MgFY

Alibaba's IPO Pop Makes Jack Ma The Richest Man In China

By Liyan Chen, Ryan Mac and Brian Solomon

The largest IPO in US history has put a new person on top of China’s richest.

As Alibaba shares surged over 35% to open at $92.70, founder and chairman Jack Ma’s stake in the company he founded boosted his net worth over $16 billion. That Alibaba stake pushes Ma above his rivals to the #1 spot as the wealthiest man in China. Ma’s total net worth grows higher when you calculate the $800 million in cash he pocketed by selling shares, which should rise to more than $1 billion once underwriters exercise their extra options. Ma also has separate stakes in private companies like Alibaba sister-company Alipay.

Ma’s rise to the top puts him ahead of former #1, Robin Li, another Chinese tech icon who founded search engine Baidu . Li sits at a net worth of $16.6 billion. Ma also leapfrogged the $15.5 billion man Pony Ma, whose Tencent is directly in competition with Alibaba over China’s growing mobile phone user base.

Ma’s net worth gain also places him into the top 10 richest people in tech worldwide, a group that includes Silicon Valley pioneers Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, and Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Read more about Alibaba’s first day of trading on Forbes’ live blog.
 

The Biggest U.S. IPOs In History

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AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File

The Biggest IPOs In U.S. History

Alibaba broke records as the largest IPO in history after pricing its offering at $68 per share on Sept. 18, 2014. After an overallotment option the total proceeds rose to $25 billion, easily surpassing the likes of Visa and Facebook.

Alibaba Plans To Raise As Much As $24 Billion In Biggest U.S. IPO Ever

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2014/09/05/alibaba-plans-to-raise-as-much-as-24-billion-in-whats-to-be-the-biggest-u-s-ipo-ever/

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Asian Games Incheon 2014 South Korea; I dream of South Korea

Video:  http://t.cn/RhNH7xQ

 INCHEON -- The 2014 Asian Games officially opened in this western port city of South Koera on Friday evening, attracting more than 14,000 athletes and officials from 45 countries and regions across the continent.

South Korean president Park Geun-hye declared the games open in front of a watching IOC chief Thomas Bach.

The 17th Asian Games, which will run through Oct. 4, offer 439 gold medals in 36 sports.

The Incheon Asiad is the third continental event hosted by South Korea, following the Seoul Asiad in 1986 and the Busan Games in 2002.

17th Asian Games open in Incheon, South Korea Hightlights from Incheon Asian Games opening ceremony

China aims to dominate the Asian Games medal table for the ninth consecutive time as it sends more than 1,300 athletes and officials for the continent's premier sporting event. Hightlights from Incheon Asian Games opening ceremony >>

For the Incheon Games, the 897-athlete China Team, its largest ever contingent for any Games overseas, will participate in all 36 sports but kabbadi, featuring 33 Olympic champions.

Liu Peng, chef de mission of the Chinese delegation for the Incheon Asian Games, said that "we've been the leaders on both medals and gold medal tables of Asian Games, and we want to keep on winning."

"The Asian Games are not only a competition but a platform for countries and regions from all over the continent to comunicate, cooperate, exchange opinions and better understanding each other," said Liu.

"Therefore, we expect more than just titles and medals and No. 1 position in the tally from our athletes, but hope they will show fighting spirit and sportsmanship at the games," added Liu.

Xiao Tian, the deputy chef de mission of the Chinese team, said,

"We consider the Asian Games an important part of our preparation for the 2016 Rio de Janerio Olympic Games."

Since the 1982 games in New Delhi, China has topped every Asiad medal table, with its largest harvest of 199 golds from the Guangzhou Asiad four years ago.

For South Korea, the 1,068-member squad for the Incheon Games is its largest-ever Asiad delegation, including 831 athletes who will compete in all 36 sports.

With home turf advantage, the hosts hope to win more than 90 gold medals in Incheon to strengthen their second overall position which they occupied since the 1998 Bangkok Asiad in their seesaw battle against Japan.

Meanwhile, three countries are hoping for their first-ever podium finish at the continent's quadrennial sports event, namely Bhutan and the Maldives, both at their seventh outing, as well as East Timor, which is in its fourth Asian Games.

The Asian Games was first held in 1951, and China and Japan are the only two nations to have finished first in the medal standings.

In terms of overall gold medals, China leads Japan by 1,191 to 910, while South Korea ranks third at 617. - Xinhua

I dream of South Korea

South Korea is at the Crossroads. She will become a helpless victim if she loses her sense of direction

Last night, I had a troubled sleep, tossing and turning, having one nightmare after another. In my dream I found myself in 2020 on the unified Korean Peninsula. I was overjoyed because the long-cherished dream of unification had come true at last. Soon, however, I found that some radical changes had taken place during the unification process. Among them, South Korea had turned into a communist country due to the large number of pro-North people in the South who naively and paradoxically supported Marxism and socialism, even though they relished the sweet fruits of the capitalist economy.

In the unified Korea, everyone had finally become equal, as many South Koreans had long wanted, not only in class but also in wealth. No one was allowed to be smarter than anyone else, and accordingly, all the universities in Korea bore the name of the prime university, Seoul National University. No one was permitted to be richer than anyone else either. Consequently, everybody was equally mediocre and destitute in Korea. Even better, Korea had become a workers’ paradise, where your job came with a lifetime warranty regardless of your performance and competence.

Nevertheless, I found the communist system had some serious flaws and downsides. As the nation had adopted the food rationing system, the government had turned into Big Brother and controlled people’s lives. Naturally, everybody was under constant surveillance and no one was allowed freedom of speech or of the press. Another problem with the communist regime was that it had a hierarchy instead of classes, and thus there were still quite a few privileged people – the party members and political leaders.

Deeply disturbed, I fell asleep and woke up in 2020 again, but this time in a different timeline. I found the Korean Peninsula was at war. Washington had made the same mistake that it had made just before the Korean War; it had pulled back the US troops from South Korea. In an effort to exercise a restraining influence on China’s expansion policy in Asia, the US had formed alliances with Japan, Australia and India, but not South Korea. Disappointed in South Korea’s policy of leaning heavily on China, the US government had retaliated by withdrawing her troops from South Korea.

As soon as the US troops had left, North Korea launched an attack on South Korea with numerous hidden artillery and biochemical weapons that eventually devastated the whole country. Many South Korean soldiers, who belonged to the Soft Generation and whose morale was low due to pervasive violence in military barracks, were not capable of fighting back.

While trying very hard to wake up from these bad dreams, I tumbled into another nightmare. I woke up in another timeline, in 2020 again.

This time, I found everyone was learning and speaking Chinese, as China impudently claimed that the Korean Peninsula had been part of China in ancient times and still was. Not realising what would happen to us, we Koreans had naively chosen China over Japan and the States as an ally.

Frustrated by the series of nightmares, I fell asleep again, intensely wishing to have a sweet, beautiful dream this time. When I woke up in 2020 again, I finally found South Korea had become a peaceful, advanced country without factional skirmishes or ideological brawls. An affluent society, South Korea served as a role model due to its miraculous economic success and democratisation.

Skilfully maximising her geopolitical situation, South Korea had emerged as a powerful, influential nation that earned respect and admiration from her neighbours.

The 1988 movie Sliding Doors shows two different futures the protagonist could experience depending on whether or not she catches a subway train. Our future, too, will be entirely different depending on whether or not we choose the right path at the right moment. Indeed, South Korea is at the crossroads now and thus should decide which way to go. If she loses her sense of direction, she will be inevitably caught in the crossfire and victimised helplessly.

Last night, I was wide awake in the middle of the night, sweating from bad dreams and worrying about the future of Korea. In my nightmares, Korea had headed in the wrong direction and suffered the consequences.

Waking up in 2014, I am so relieved that we still have a chance to prevent a disastrous future by choosing the right path.

By Kim Seong-Kon The Korea Herald

Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and president of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea.\


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Asian Games 2014 Final Medal Table

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	151	108	83	342
2	Korea	79	71	84	234
3	Japan	47	76	77	200
4	Kazakhstan	28	23	33	84
5	Iran	21	18	18	57
6	Thailand	12	7	28	47
7	DPR Korea	11	11	14	36
8	India	11	9	37	57
9	Chinese Taipei	10	18	23	51
10	Qatar	10	0	4	14
11	Uzbekistan	9	14	21	44
12	Bahrain	9	6	4	19
13	Hong Kong	6	12	24	42
14	Malaysia	5	14	14	33
15	Singapore	5	6	13	24
16	Mongolia	5	4	12	21
17	Indonesia	4	5	11	20
18	Kuwait	3	5	4	12
19	Saudi Arabia	3	3	1	7
20	Myanmar	2	1	1	4
21	Vietnam	1	10	25	36
22	Philippines	1	3	11	15
23	Pakistan	1	1	3	5
23	Tajikistan	1	1	3	5
25	Iraq	1	0	3	4
25	United Arab Emirates	1	0	3	4
27	Sri Lanka	1	0	1	2
28	Cambodia	1	0	0	1
29	Macau	0	3	4	7
30	Kyrgyzstan	0	2	4	6
31	Jordan	0	2	2	4
32	Turkmenistan	0	1	5	6
33	Bangladesh	0	1	2	3
33	Laos	0	1	2	3
35	Afghanistan	0	1	1	2
35	Lebanon	0	1	1	2
37	Nepal	0	0	1	1

Source: NDTV Sports

Property prices to further rise in Malaysia, Credit Suisse predicts

Higher selling prices does not necessarily mean bigger profits for developers with Credit Suisse noting that developers’ cost of doing business has reportedly risen 20% in the first half of 2014. “Margins are being compressed,” it said in a sector report on. The firm is negative on the sector.

PETALING JAYA: Property prices, which rose 8% in the first quarter of this year, will continue to head north, as developers pass on the rising cost of building houses to buyers, according to Credit Suisse.

But higher selling prices does not necessarily mean bigger profits for developers with Credit Suisse noting that developers’ cost of doing business has reportedly risen 20% in the first half of 2014.

“Margins are being compressed,” it said in a sector report on Monday. The firm is negative on the sector.

Property sales, especially in the affordable category, had slowed since the start of the year with measures to curb speculative purchases dampening sentiment in the property market.

The report indicated that the Government was considering additional measures to cool down rising prices with specific plans to address the issue of affordable housing.

Credit Suisse said it believed that measures to facilitate home ownership among the lower and middle income groups such as allowing developer interest bearing schemes for first-time house buyers or those below a certain income level, would be positive for the market.

“However, a blanket policy to stop the rise in property prices would be negative as sentiment is already so low,” it added.

According to the Real Estate Housing Developers Association’s first half of 2014 property industry survey, a majority of developers are either neutral or negative about the outlook for the second half of 2014.

This sentiment is expected to carry through to next year, with only 13% of respondents optimistic about the outlook in the first half of 2015. Developers have been holding back new launches this year, with only 39% of respondents launching in the first half compared with 52% a year ago.

Take-up rates fell to 49% in the period, the first time it dipped below the 50% level.

The main reason for slower sales was the difficulty for buyers in securing financing. Properties priced between RM250,000 and RM500,000 saw a 30% rejection rate, while properties prices between RM500,000 and RM700,000 experienced a rejection rate of 24%.

Additionally, growth in housing loan approvals has slowed since December 2013 and fell 13% year-on-year in July 2014. For the first seven months of the year, total housing loan approvals were up only 1% year-on-year at RM68bil.

But despite the soft market condition, Credit Suisse said it believed that prices would continue on an uptrend next year as input costs are pushed up by the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

“Residential properties are GST exempt, but developers would look to pass on the higher costs via higher launch prices,” it said.

Sources: Credit Suisse/PropertyGuru/The Star/Asia News Network, Wed Sept 17 2014

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How can China forget '9/18' Japanese militarists' "Mukden Incident" (望海楼) ?

On Sep. 18 of every year, the Shenyang ‘9/18’ historical museum holds a ceremony of sounding the alarm. The 14 bells and the 3-minute air defense warning are always an emotional moment for China. (People’s Daily/He Yong)

On Sept. 18, 1931, Japanese troops blew up a section of railway near Shenyang that was under their control. They then accused Chinese troops of sabotaging the railway to create a pretext for war. Later that evening, they bombarded the barracks of Chinese troops near Shenyang, starting a large-scale armed invasion of northeast China.
On July 7, 1937, the Lugouqiao Incident occurred, and the nationwide War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression started.

83 years ago, Japanese militarists planned the ‘Liutiaohu’ event and then invaded northeastern China, unleashing full-scale aggression against China. However, this ‘9/18’ event has been deliberately obscured and ignored by Japan. There are only a few words about the event in the Hiroshima atomic bomb data repository: “Japan started its war against China starting on 18th September.” http://english.cntv.cn/special/sept3victoryday/history1931_1945/index.shtml

There are a number of equivocal accounts of the war crimes committed by Japan against China. After the Second World War, unreformed Japanese militarists refused to acknowledge what they had done in the war. They coveted China’s land and resources then, and the Japanese government’s conduct and its policies still indicate an attachment to militarism. The militarists dug their own grave by waging war against China. A militarist mindset will never be of benefit to Japan.

Why was China ravaged for years by Japan, which is only one thirtieth the size of China? Because Jiang Jieshi’s government pursued a policy of non-resistance, even though it had greater military power than its Japanese adversary.

Most of Jiang Jieshi’s troops withdrew without fighting, leaving southeastern China to fall into the hands of Japanese troops in just four months and 18 days. The great powers were busy trying to carve up poverty-stricken China. A backward China was bound to be mauled. These are valuable lessons to be learnt from history.

The victory gained by China in its anti-aggression war against Japan has created a solid foundation for its rejuvenation. 14 years of arduous war cultivated the Chinese people’s anti-aggression spirit. China's national strength is growing, and so is its national status. But China is still facing challenges from home and abroad, so we must remain vigilant against potential threats even in times of safety. As long as the Chinese people remain united in the spirit of anti-aggression, we can overcome any difficulties and realize China’s dream.

By Hua Yisheng - This article was edited and translated from 《“九一八” 我们怎能忘记（望海楼）》, source: People's Daily Overseas Edition

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