ROC fought Japan in WWII, not PRC: Taiwan's defense chief

Taipei, March 4 (CNA) Defense Minister Wellington Koo (顧立雄) defended the Republic of China's (ROC) role in the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II on Monday as the 80th anniversary of the end of the wars approaches.

At a roundtable with reporters Monday, Koo was asked how Taiwan, officially named the ROC, will celebrate the major milestone and how he saw the People Republic of China's (PRC) planned celebrations of the same anniversary.

He insisted that it was the ROC, not the PRC, that fought the Japanese invasion that began in 1937 and ended in 1945, with Japan formally surrendering on Sept. 2, 1945.

The ROC was based in mainland China when the Second Sino-Japanese War began, Koo said. It then officially declared war against Japan, Germany, and Italy in 1941 after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, and the ROC won the war in 1945.

The PRC was not established until in 1949, years after the conclusion of Second Sino-Japanese War, he said, adding that these are all "historical facts."

So it is impossible for the PRC to take credit for a war that happened before it was established, he said, calling it "very simple logic."

The ROC and not the PRC was the one fighting during WWII and Second Sino-Japanese War, and the PRC's attempt to claim credit simply by holding celebrations cannot change the historical facts, Koo said.

On Taiwan's planned celebrations for the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII, Koo said the main theme will be to celebrate the ROC's defense of its sovereignty against the Japanese invasion and how it fought alongside Allied nations during WWII.

Lieutenant General Chen Yu-lin (陳育琳), the Ministry of National Defense's Political Warfare Bureau chief, who also attended Monday's roundtable, said the celebrations are still being planned and details will be made public soon.

The ROC government, led by Kuomintang (KMT) leader Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正), relocated to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's (毛澤東) communists. Mao's Chinese Communist Party established the PRC in Beijing that same year.

Over the years, Beijing has largely downplayed the role of the KMT forces in winning the Second Sino-Japanese war and WWII.

The PRC announced earlier this year that it will be holding a series of celebrations to mark the 80th anniversary in 2025, but has yet to give details.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has accepted Russia's invitation to attend the commemorations of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, Russian media said this month.

The PRC is also planning a military parade to commemorate the event, to which Putin has been invited to join Xi, according to Hong Kong media.