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China victory day parade live: Xi, Putin and Kim Jong-un appear together as Trump accuses them of conspiring against US | China

Xi, Kim, Putin appear together

The leaders of China, Russia and North Korea have been photographed walking to the parade together. It is a striking image, that has been beamed onto large screens in Beijing.

Xi Jinping (C) walks alongside Russia’s president Vladimir Putin (centre L) and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un (centre R). Photograph: Pedro Pardo/AFP/Getty Images
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Helen Davidson

Helen Davidson

As the dignitaries filed in – with Xi, Putin and Kim in the lead – the state media broadcast noted the presence of war veterans, including some from Taiwan.

The anniversary has underscored some less-discussed aspects of the Taiwan China tensions.

The second world war came to China – then known as the Republic of China (ROC) – while the country was in the midst of its own civil war, between the ROC rulers, the Kuomintang, and the newly formed Chinese Communist party. The two sides paused their battle fight alongside each other against Japan.

After Japan surrendered, Taiwan, which had been ruled by Japan, was returned to the ROC. But the civil war had resumed, and soon, the CCP took control of the mainland and the ROC’s KMT leaders fled to Taiwan. The CCP established the People’s Republic of China, and the KMT established the ROC government in exile, intending to regroup and one day retake the mainland (spoiler: they didn’t).

This is the very simplified background to the CCP’s claim over Taiwan today.

But when it comes to the second world war, the two sides are also in dispute over who really led the fight against Japan.

Beijing has mounted a campaign to emphasise the “correct view” of the history, emphasising that China and Soviet Russia played a pivotal role, and claiming that the CCP’s wartime efforts were “deliberately belittled and vilified”. Throughout the summer cinemas showed blockbusters that celebrated the battles fought by China against fascist aggressors, prompting a wave of patriotism among viewers.

In Taiwan, officials say the fight was mostly led by the KMT and its leader, Chiang Kai-shek, noting that they were the ones to sign peace agreements as allied nations.

“During the Republic of China’s war of resistance against Japan, the People’s Republic of China did not even exist, but the Chinese communist regime has in recent years repeatedly distorted the facts, claiming it was the [Chinese] Communist Party who led the war of resistance,” Mainland Affairs Council minister Chiu Chui-cheng said last month.

The council said the communists’ strategy at the time was “70% about strengthening themselves, 20% dealing with the Nationalist government and 10% about opposing Japan,” repeating an old wartime accusation against Mao the CCP has denied.

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