The Chinese government has accused Taiwan of "desecrating the memory of martyrs" with its criticism of Beijing's interpretation of the history of World War II, saying that questioning the official history of the conflict is a betrayal of history, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
China takes the legacy of the war, during which millions of Chinese died in the Japanese invasion, extremely seriously. Last week, both Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump stressed the alliance between their countries during that period.
However, Taipei argues that Beijing is praising the wrong Chinese state, as during the war the ruling government was that of the Republic of China, which fought on the side of the Allies, not the current People's Republic of China.
The government of the Republic of China retreated to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the civil war. The official name of the country that rules the island is still the Republic of China.
During a regular briefing in Beijing, China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhang Han said that Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is trying to distort the history of World War II.
"This is a betrayal of history, a desecration of the memory of martyrs and a betrayal of the nation," she stressed.
Beijing claims that during the war, communist guerrilla forces were the backbone of the resistance in China, while official Chinese historiography mentions the forces of the Republic of China in passing.
Zhang said that the forces of the Nationalist Party (KMT) fought against Japan on the main front. The KMT was the ruling party in China at the time and is now the largest opposition party in Taiwan. She said the communists had "opened up vast rear battlefronts behind enemy lines."
"The victory in the War of Resistance was a victory for the entire nation and also an important part of the victory in the world anti-fascist war, which deserves to be jointly celebrated and honored by compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait," she stressed.
Taiwan was a Japanese colony from 1895 to 1945, and after the end of the war it was handed over to the government of the Republic of China, which ruled the island under martial law until 1987. The victory in the war and the restoration of Taiwan are "the common glory of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation," Zhang added.
The DPP has traditionally upheld Taiwan's separate identity and history and rejected Beijing's territorial claims to the island. China refuses to hold official dialogue with Taiwanese President William Lai, calling him a "separatist", Reuters recalls.