BEIJING: China said on Wednesday (Aug 27) Taiwan was “blaspheming” the sacrifices of those who died fighting Japan in World War II by denying the pivotal role of the communist party and denounced Taipei’s call for Taiwanese to stay away from Beijing’s commemorations.
This year’s 80th anniversary of the end of the war, preceded in China by Japan’s 1931 takeover of eastern Manchuria and its subsequent invasion of the rest of the country in 1937, has set off a bitter battle of narratives between Beijing and Taipei.
Taiwan says China’s ruling communist party is falsely claiming credit for leading the fighting when most of it was done by Republic of China forces, whose government then fled to the island in 1949, after losing a civil war.
Taiwan retains the Republic of China as its formal name.
Taiwan was “slandering and obliterating” the communist party’s role as the country’s “backbone” in fighting Japan, Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said in Beijing, the capital.
“This is a grave blasphemy against all the loyal martyrs and heroes and a shameless betrayal of the entire Chinese nation,” Zhu told a press briefing.
Taiwan has urged people not to attend Beijing’s large-scale military parade next week for the anniversary and threatened punishment, such as pension suspension, for current or former senior defence, intelligence or diplomatic officials, who do.
