Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday that the military parades held separately by Russia and China this year, including one in Beijing that day, posed a serious threat to world peace.
A military parade was held in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Second Sino-Japanese War, with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin both joining Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to review the troops on Wednesday morning.
Eighty years have passed since the end of World War II, whose lesson to humanity was to “oppose aggression and pursue peace,” said Wu Jun-zhi (吳峻鋕), head of the DPP’s Department of China Affairs.
Photo: Reuters
However, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Russia -- which staged a Moscow Victory Day Parade in May -- have both chosen to hold large-scale military parades this year, engaging in militarism and belligerence that pose a serious threat to world peace.
In his speech, Xi said that the victory in the Second Sino- Japanese War was achieved under a national united front against Japanese aggression advocated by the CCP, according to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency.
Xi’s remarks were rejected by Taiwanese authorities, with the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) stating that the government of the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan’s official name), along with the entire military and civilian population, “made countless sacrifices and contributions” that led to victory in the war.
“The CCP, by contrast, only sought to expand and consolidate its own power and made no contribution to the war effort,” said the MAC, Taiwan’s top government agency responsible for handling China affairs.
“No matter how many resources the CCP spends on commemorative events, it cannot cover up these ironclad historical facts,” the MAC added.
The ROC government’s attitude toward the CCP’s role in the Second Sino-Japanese War has shifted over the years.
Truth of the War
In July 2015, at the opening ceremony of the exhibition “Truth of the War of Resistance against Japan”, then President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the KMT acknowledged that the CCP did participate in the eight-year war from 1937 to 1945, but said its involvement was “limited.”
Ma also noted that among the 268 generals commemorated by the ROC government for their sacrifice in the war was Zuo Quan (左權), a major general who served as deputy chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army -- a force that was in practice under the exclusive command of the CCP and operated independently of the KMT’s central military command.
“Although he was a general of the CCP, because he died in the war against Japan, he was included in the list of fallen generals,” Ma said, according to a Presidential Office news release.
Among Taiwanese attending the Wednesday parade, former KMT Chairperson Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) drew the most attention, with MAC and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) criticizing Hung following her announcement Tuesday that she would attend.
Commenting on Hung’s attendance, as she was seen on Tiananmen Rostrum standing behind some elderly CCP members, Wu said her presence was a very serious matter given her status as the former leader of Taiwan’s largest opposition party.
He criticized Hung for ignoring the parade’s destructive impact on peace and lending her support to the event, a move reminiscent of former Vice President Lien Chan (連 戰) -- also of the KMT -- who attended a similar parade in Beijing a decade ago.
Both Hung’s and Lien’s attendance at the parades are symbols of the CCP’s success in its “united front” efforts, Wu said.
Safe home
Hung said on her Facebook page Tuesday that the Sept. 3 commemoration carries “a simple yet solemn meaning,” adding that anyone with a sense of gratitude would not forget the significance of the victory in the War of Resistance.
“Without the martyrs who shed their blood in battle, there would be no ROC today, nor a safe home for Taiwan,” she said.
Hung also voiced her criticism about what she called “threatening language” from the MAC and MOFA, asking: “Must commemorating the martyrs who gave their lives for the country first receive approval from the DPP?”
“This is not only a restriction on people’s freedom of speech, but also a suppression of historical truth,” she said.
In response to Hung’s attendance, Lin Kuan-yu (林寬裕), head of the KMT’s Culture and Communications Committee, said Wednesday that party Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) has repeatedly stressed that cross-strait exchanges must comply with existing laws and regulations.
Under such a principle, all individual activities will be respected as long as they do not violate the law, Lin said, adding that it will be up to the public to judge whether such conduct is appropriate.
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