Chinese academics are calling for the “Western-centric” version of World War II to be rewritten by pushing back the start date nearly a decade and placing Chinese forces firmly on the front line against fascism.
Instead of Germany’s 1939 invasion of Poland marking the beginning of the global conflict, some academics at a second world war history seminar in Beijing on Tuesday said it should be Japan’s 1931 invasion of Manchuria, which escalated into a full-scale war in China in 1937.
“This historical perspective that marks 1939 as World War II’s starting point … diminishes and undermines China’s role in the war,” said Wang Wen, executive dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University.
In Moscow this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend a Victory Day parade in Red Square, marking the surrender of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union in 1945.
The attendance reflects not only Beijing’s present-day support for Russia but also a desire to stake a bigger claim on ending the conflict.
