Taiwan, China battle it out in competing World War Two narratives

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TAIPEI - Veteran Pan Cheng-fa says he clearly remembers fighting for China against the Japanese in World War Two, but gets agitated when asked about the role of communist forces who at the time were in an uneasy alliance with his republican government.

We gave them weapons, equipment - we strengthened them, Pan, 99, said at an event in Taiwans capital Taipei to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two.

As China gears up for a mass military parade in Beijing next month to mark the wars end, both Taiwan - whose formal name remains Republic of China - and the Peoples Republic of China are locked in an increasingly bitter war of words about historical narrative and who should really be claiming credit for the victory.

Fighting in China began in earnest in 1937 with the full-scale Japanese invasion and continued until the surrender of Japan in 1945, when the island of Taiwan was handed over to the Republic of China after decades of Japanese rule.

After Japan was taken down, (the communists) next target was the Republic of China, Pan added, referring to the resumption of the civil war which led to the victory of Mao Zedongs forces and flight of the republican government to Taiwan in 1949.

The ruling Chinese Communist Party often reminds people of its struggle against the Japanese, but a lot of the fighting was done by the forces of Chiang Kai-sheks republican government, and it was the Republic of China who signed the peace agreement as one of the allied nations.

During the Republic of Chinas war of resistance against Japan, the Peoples Republic of China did