In Marking End of WW II, China Projects Itself as Great Power
Chinese pride themselves for saving Asia by pinning down the Japanese in battle.
Victory Celebrations with an Underlying Message
- China all set to remind the world of its stature as an international power on the the 70th anniversary of its victory over Japan in the second world war
- It will be a regional alignment of sorts at display as some of the western nations may choose to absent themselves from attending the gala function
- Dilemma for India which it will have to overcome cautiously as it is fraught with the choice of going with either China or Japan
The Museum of Imperial Palace Manchukuo in Changchun in Northeast China is seeing a busy season. It was here that the last Chinese emperor Pu Yi spent his last years as a marionette king, string pulled by the Japanese army.
And as the celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of China’s victory over Japan in the Second World War draw near and gains momentum, the museum authorities are going all out to educate visitors on the futility of the Japanese imperial enterprise.
Indeed it was here that imperial Japan had set up in 1932 the state of Manchukuo (more popularly known as Manchuria), installed Pu Yi as the ruler and established a base for their plans to take over the Soviet Far East and mainland Asia.
Over the years the museum has become a great centre for patriotic tourism. Visitors are given briefings highlighting the great sacrifice of the Chinese nation in thwarting Japan’s plans.
Indeed, the Chinese pride themselves in the fact that it was because they had pinned down the Japanese in battle, inflicting heavy losses on the imperial army, that the rest of Asia was saved.
Human Suffering
Historians estimate that China lost around 20 million lives since the Japanese invasion in 1937. A trail of human suffering was left behind in the lesser known narratives of the many ‘Japanese wives’ and Japanese orphans left behind, the children born of Japanese mothers and Chinese fathers who went unrecognised by Japan.
But it is not just in this eastern part of the country that the Chinese experience of and heroism in the Second World War is being revisited. A nationwide holiday has been declared on September 3, a first of its kind in the country. Celebrations are being planned in cities across the length and breadth of China.
In Beijing plans and preparations are on for a grand parade and Tiananmen Square is undergoing a major facelift and refurbishments. The parade, to which other countries, including India have been asked to participate, will be the first military parade that Xi Jinping will preside over since becoming president.
Exhibitions recording art and literature that surfaced during the war have been mounted in museums and for the first time the written confessions of 31 Japanese war criminals are being published by China’s national archives.
China’s Role
In a sense, this is China’s ‘outing’ as a great power, reminding the world of the enormous sacrifice it had made in a war whose victory is claimed by many nations.
Even as tensions rise in the South China Sea between China and its smaller neighbours, as between China and Japan, Beijing sees merit in reminding the world of its role in preventing the dominance of the Japanese army in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.
But, while the Yuan may be depreciating, wounds do run deep, as they do in other countries of the region.
Moreover, as an academic pointed out, countries across the globe are celebrating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. Russia, for instance, had its own grand celebrations in May, just as the two Koreas will be hosting theirs. India too commemorated its own fallen in the war 70 years ago. So the Chinese celebrations should come as no surprise.
India’s Silence
And who from India will participate in China’s victory celebrations? There is no word as yet. President Pranab Mukherjee attended Russia’s celebrations at a time when Russia stood boycotted and isolated by the West.
While Western countries might absent themselves from the celebrations at Tiananmen Square, China is definitely not isolated. Fifty nations, which include Germany and Britain, have signed up for the Asia Infrastructure Development Bank. Moreover, the celebrations mark an ideological victory over fascism.
Of course India has to do a balancing act vis-a-vis Japan. But it is just as instructive to note that China and Japan have developed an ‘economic version of mutual deterrence.’ And India’s participation in events in Moscow marking the victory over Nazi Germany came just a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Germany.
Meanwhile Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did not include the words ‘apology’ and ‘aggression’ in his speech to mark the end of Second World War, limiting it to expressing “utmost grief.” India will thus have to make up its mind.
(The writer is a Delhi-based freelance journalist)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)