Royal Australian Mint issues coin to commemorate end of WWII

Royal Australian Mint on Thursday issued a special one dollar silver proof coin in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the end of the World War II as a part of a multi-country project initiated by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries for a dozen of mints around the world to issue coins of the same theme.

The coin features "70th ANNIVERSARY" and "END OF WWII". Chinese characters "He Ping" meaning peace are prominently shown along with the word "peace" in English spellings of several other languages.

Cai Wei, Charge d'Affairs of the Chinese Embassy in Australia, noted that it is the first time that countries around the world in collaboration issue World War II commemorative coins in the form of sovereign currency.

"In the war that devastated most part of the world 70 years ago, China was the major battle field in Asia Pacific and it finally defeated Japanese aggression at the tremendous national sacrifice. Both China and Australia made significant contributions to the victory of World War II," Cai said.

"To remember the past is not a continuation of the hatred, but to demonstrate our love of peace and our will to safeguard it, and our determination to build a better future of mankind," he said.

Royal Australian Mint CEO Ross MacDiarmid congratulated the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries for bringing a dozen of mints from China, Britain, France, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Ireland, Italy and Finland in collaboration to issue World War II commemorative coins in the form of sovereign currency.

"This image of coin signifies friendship and peace. On the coin there are words in different languages symbolizing world peace. So in our point of view, it's a project that we are delighted to be part of," he said.

Exhibitions of WWII commemorative coins will be held in participating countries, also the first of its kind, later this year. Endi