00:00Beijing is going to great lengths to emphasize the end of World War II.
00:04But the question is, why?
00:06People like to take World War II history as they take other history
00:09and pick out the things that, for them, work as an argument about the present.
00:15Beijing argues it was the Chinese Communist Party that led the fight against Japan during World War II.
00:21It uses this to legitimize its rule at home, strengthen its image on the global stage,
00:25and bolster its territorial claims to Taiwan.
00:28At the time, China was governed by the Kuomintang, also known in English as the Nationalist Party,
00:34which was already in a civil war with the communists.
00:36The two sides did team up against Japan,
00:39but historians say the nationalists did most of the fighting in major battles,
00:43while the communists played a smaller role.
00:45China painted itself as a founding force of the post-World War II order,
00:49including the creation of the United Nations and the war's immediate aftermath.
00:53This narrative leaves out one key point.
00:55China's UN seat at the time belonged to the Republic of China,
00:59led by the nationalists that later fled to Taiwan,
01:01not the communist-led People's Republic of China.
01:04The seat was only transferred to the PRC around 25 years later.
01:09And then there's Taiwan, which China claims as its own,
01:12using World War II history to bolster those claims.
01:14So it's not only talking about the war, the war, the war, the war, the war, the war, the war.
01:21It's not only talking about the war, the war, the war, the war, the war, the war, the war, the war.
01:29Much of the picture China paints of its role in World War II and its aftermath is heavily disputed.
01:35Taiwan's government has strongly criticized China's story,
01:38accusing it of distorting the facts,
01:40arguing that it was the ROC that won the war, not the PRC.
01:44Taiwan's media...
01:46The UN by the UTH
01:49World War II
01:51Paul
01:54Hello.
01:54lazy
01:57of
01:59of
02:02you
02:09yyy
02:10And
02:11and
Comments