World News Highlight: Beijing emphasizes Communist Party's part in WWII during upcoming military parade
The story behind China's victory over the Japanese occupation is a subject of much debate and contention. While Beijing asserts that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) played a central role in the war, historians and scholars, such as Rana Mitter, author of multiple books on China's role in World War II, argue that the primary role in political and military resistance against the Japanese was played by the Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) government.
After Japan's full-scale invasion in 1937, the KMT-led Republic of China (ROC) Army, under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, resisted the invaders. The CCP, however, resisted mainly by guerrilla fighting in the rural, hilly stretches of northern China outside of ROC control.
During this time, efforts have been made to recognise the contributions of forces other than the CCP. One such example is the Flying Tigers US air brigade, which fought with the KMT, conducting dangerous assaults on enemy bombers. A museum in Hunan Province's Zhijiang sheds light on the assistance provided by the Flying Tigers.
Li Jinshui, a soldier in the CCP-run Eighth Route Army, affirmed this narrative. At the age of 19, Li was fighting the Japanese in his native Wuxiang County in China's rugged northern Shanxi Province. He was shot in the leg, leaving him with a bullet wound scar on his shin, a year before the end of World War II. Despite early hospital release and incomplete recovery, Li returned to the battlefield.
In Changsha's capital, there is a monument to fallen KMT soldiers. Meanwhile, the name of General Wang Tung-yuan, a general under Chiang and later Taiwan's ambassador to South Korea, was removed from a monument for complex political reasons. Despite extensive searches, no available results mention General Wang Tung-yuan or his role during World War II and the subsequent Chinese liberation movement against the Japanese occupation.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has paid special attention to pushing the "correct" interpretation of China's role in World War II, emphasising the role of the CCP. Historians generally attribute the credit for victory to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-led ROC Army and its leader, Chiang Kai-shek.
However, the story does not end here. Wen, who joined the CCP at age 16 in the final months of World War II, adds another layer to this complex narrative. The ongoing debate highlights the need for a nuanced understanding of China's past, acknowledging the contributions of various forces in the country's struggle for independence.
