Blame Qing dynasty, not Chinese fleet, for 1895 defeat to Japan, senior PLA figures say

As China prepares to mark the 120th anniversary of the first Sino-Japanese war this year, there has been a groundswell of support in the highest echelons of the military to reassess the role of the Qing dynasty's northern fleet in China's humiliating loss to the Japanese.

Generals from various branches of the People's Liberation Army, including the navy and air force, have recently urged a reassessment of the verdict - a move that may see the tide of history shift in favour of the maligned Chinese fleet, which for 120 years was held responsible for allowing its Japanese adversary, the Meiji navy, to prevail.

It is the Qing government that should be blamed for the fleet's defeat in the first Sino-Japanese war, which lasted from August 1894 to April 1895, according to Deputy Admiral Ding Yiping , deputy commander-in-chief of the PLA Navy.

Ding's comments accompany an online compendium, including articles and illustrations, that compare the development of the northern fleet with the Meiji navy, which has appears on the website of the Global Times.

The party's leading propaganda outlets, including The PLA Daily, Xinhua and The People's Daily, have started running reviews of the period in contemporary Chinese history that some rank as its most shameful.

Earlier last month, PLA Air Force General Liu Yazhou, political commissar at the People's Liberation Army National Defence University, told the PLA Daily and Xinhua that China's defeat in the war was neither caused by the actions of the Qing navy nor its land forces, but by the antiquated dynastic political system and traditional modes of thinking.