As Trump Recognizes CCP’s View of Resistance against Japan, Lai Government Idly Watches ROC’s Legitimacy Be Weakened

When U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met at the White House, they coincidentally both cited U.S.-China cooperation during World War II in their speeches. Trump mentioned the Flying Tigers but completely overlooked its connection to the Republic of China. He also failed to explain that it was actually the ROC that fought alongside the U.S.

Of course, when the two leaders met, their public remarks were absolutely similar, representing China’s effort to push its own interpretation of history. On the one hand, this strengthens its discourse of the Chinese Communist Party’s resistance against Japan. On the other, it is used to supplant the ROC with the People’s Republic of China. Allowing the CCP to thus entirely inherit the historical legacy of the ROC is as good as saying the ROC no longer exists.

Xi’s remarks were undoubtedly an attack on Taiwan subjectivity. WWII history serves as the traditional reasoning and proof that it was Taiwan that maintained friendly relations with the U.S. Yet Trump accepted Xi’s narrative wholesale.

Worth noting is that Trump’s speech at the White House on Sept. 24 marked a change in attitude.

Last year, China held events and a military review commemorating “the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese people's war of resistance against Japanese aggression and the world anti-fascist war,” openly “revising” history.

Trump responded with hostility, writing on Truth Social, “Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un as you conspire against the United States of America.” He also mentioned the sacrifices Americans made for China’s resistance, hoping they would receive the commemoration they deserved. At the time, China was still classified as America’s enemy.

Three Trump-Xi meetings later, China has already succeeded in persuading Trump to believe the CCP’s interpretation of history. As the world watched, Trump was even willing to agree with China during this meeting. This is not only an example of China successfully persuading the U.S. to concede but is also a powerful display of Xi’s influence over Trump.

The CCP’s interpretation of history might not appear in official U.S. documents, but it will be difficult to take back remarks the U.S. president made in such a grand setting. It is also bound to become the norm for interaction recognized by the Chinese.

Overall, China’s historical revisionism is traceable to China’s harassment of Taiwan in the gray area of the Taiwan Strait.

From linking the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 to the “One China Principle,” or using historical documents such as the Cairo Declaration to claim that Japan has already returned Taiwan’s sovereignty to the People’s Republic of China, to successfully persuading America today to accept the CCP’s view of its resistance against Japan, China is not directly demanding that Taiwan lessen its international participation. However, it is slowly weakening the legitimacy of the ROC. Its ultimate intention is to naturally consolidate the core ideology that “the cross-strait issue is China’s internal affair.”

And yet, despite a huge increase in national defense spending, there is no sign that Taiwan’s government is vigorously protecting the Republic of China.